LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

CALT'^NIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


/d 

Ls 


CTB 


Isabella  of  (Castile. 


ISABELLA   OF   CASTILE. 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE, 


1492—1892. 


BY 


ELIZA  ALLEN  STARR. 


CHICAGO 

C.  V.  WAI TE  &  COMPANY 
1889 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1889,  by  the 

QUEEN  ISABELLA  ASSOCIATION, 

in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
All  rights  reserved. 


DANIELS  &  PITKIN,  PKINTBKS. 


TO   THE   LADIES 

OF 

THE  QUEEN  ISABELLA  ASSOCIATION, 

who,  by  a  two-  fold  inspiration  of  patriotic  and  womanly 
honor,  have  championed  the  claims  of 


op 

as 
CO-DISCOVERER  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD, 

These  pages,  prepared   under   their  patronage,  are 
cordially  dedicated  by  the  Author, 


PKEFACE. 

In  the  following  narrative  no  attempt 
is  made  to  give  the  history  of  the  times 
in  which  it  is  laid;  but  rather  to  set 
before  tjie  mind,  as  distinctly  as  a 
picture  or  statue  could  set  before  the 
eyes,  the  noble  personality  of  Isabella  of 
Spain0 

Two  notable  examples  of  the  honor 
to  be  paid  to  a  woman  by  writing  her 
story  detached  from  all  the  events  of 
her  period,  excepting  those  directly 
connected  with  her,  are  given  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  One  of  the  Books  of 
the  Old  Testament  recites  with  the  en- 
thusiasm born  of  poesy  and  patriotism, 
the  glorious  acts  of  Judith,  whose  valor 
and  chastity  brought  to  naught  the  de- 
vices of  Holofernes. 

Another  Book  recounts  the  holy  con- 
quest of  the  beautiful  Esther  over  the 
heart  of  the  king,  Ahasuerus,  not  only 


till  PREFACE. 

by  the  charms  of  her  unrivaled  loveli- 
ness, but  the  might  of  her  self-abnega- 
tion in  behalf  of  her  people. 

Art,  which  wrought  marvels  on  the 
floor  of  the  Cathedral  of  Siena,  has 
represented  there,  in  one  of  its  most  ex- 
quisite compositions,  the  whole  story  of 
Judith  of  Bethulia;  in  the  Loggia  dei 
Lanzi  of  Florence,  Donatello  has  left 
his  triumphant  Judith;  and  in  the  same 
city  of  Etruria,  Botticelli's  brush  has 
given  a  Judith  which  surpasses  criticism 
in  the  eyes  of  Ruskin;  while  on  one 
of  the  corners  of  the  ceiling  of  the 
Sistine  Chapel,  Michael  Angelo  gives 
scenes  from  the  story  of  Esther ;  prov- 
ing how  suggestively  attractive  these 
narratives  have  been  to  the  masters  of 
both  plastic  and  pictorial  ideals. 

Nor  can  we  forget,  or  in  any  way 
omit  to  remind  others,  how  the  homi- 
lies of  a  Gregory  of  Rome,  a  Jerome  of 
Bethlehem,  an  Ambrose  of  Milan,  an 
Augustine  of  Hippo,  a  Chrysostom  of 


PREFACE.  IX 

Constantinople,  a  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
teem  with  praises  bestowed  upon  the 
valor  of  holy  women. 

No  apology,  then,  can  be  called  for 
by  the  historian,  when  he  sees  Isabella 
detached  from  his  exhaustive  volumes 
of  contemporaneous  history,  and  stand- 
ing forth'  in  her  marvelous  beauty  to 
the  eyes  of  the  unlettered  as  well  as 
the  learned ;  to  hold  her  place  in  the 
heart  of  the  world  like  a  Judith  or  an 
Esther;  supplying  to  the  artist  an  ideal 
of  such  nobleness  and  benignity  as  to 
captivate  the  imagination,  aggrandize 
the  touch  of  the  sculptor  and  painter, 
and  bequeathing  to  the  youthful  en- 
thusiast a  heroine  graced  with  the  dig- 
nity of  the  ancient  Cornelia  or  Christian 
Paula  of  Home,  with  that  added  charm 
of  a  personal  association  with  our  very 
existence  as  a  nation. 

In  order,  however,  to  supply  any 
lack  which  may  be  felt  of  certain  sur- 
roundings that  link  Isabella  to  the 


X  PREFACE. 

century  which  she  glorified,  we  have 
given,  in  our  Addendum,  copious  notes, 
which,  we  trust,  will  give  s'Uch  details, 
and  introduce  such  personages  as  a 
youthful  reader  might  need  for  historic 
memoranda,  without  breaking  in  upon 
the  harmonious  outlines  we  have  so 
studiously  kept  intact,  of  the  personal- 
ity of  Queen  Isabella. 


of 


(Chivalry,  being  a  quality  of  the 
soul,  can  be  claimed  by  no  age,  can 
be  determined  by  no  circumstance; 
to  be  prophesied  of,  indeed,  in  some 
moment  of  high  inspiration,  but 
never  to  be  counted  upon  by  hu- 
man wisdom. 

Amid  the  night  of  barbarous  ages, 
in  the  midst  of  an  enervating,  luxu- 
rious civilization,  in  peace  as  in 
war,  in  the  huts  of  peasants  as 
in  kings'  houses,  among  mountain 

peaks  or  the  level  of  broad  plains, 
(ii) 


12  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

this  mysterious  germ,  planted  in 
the  human  soul,  puts  forth  its  blos- 
som to  be  the  marvel,  the  admira- 
tion, the  glory  of  a  day,  or  of  an 
epoch,  then  passes  into  the  annals 
of  history,  into  the  traditions  of 
races,  thus  to  let  fall  its  seed  into 
the  bosom  of  future  generations. 

In  the  very  heart  and  core  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  the  22d  of  April, 
1451,  this  root  of  chivalry,  running 
like  a  fiber  of  indestructible  life 
among  the  nations,  disclosed  the 
bud  of  this  marvelous  flower  at  Ma- 
drigal, in  old  Castile,  Spain.  Cas- 
tile, on  its  plateau  from  twenty-five 
to  thirty  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea,  with  the  wild  Cantabrian  moun- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  13 

tains  for  its  northern  horizon,  be- 
yond which  dwelt  the  Basque  peo- 
ple, with  their  never  to  be  trans- 
lated language,  themselves  never 
to  be  transplanted;  Castile,  with  a 
language  so  noble,  so  fiery,  that  it 
could  chant  the  story  of  the  daunt- 
less Cid,  yet  so  melodious  as  to 
need  no  music  for  its  verse;  Castile, 
with  its  lords  of  such  goodly  metal 
that  they  have  passed  into  pro- 
verbs, and  warriors  whose  prowess 
was  equaled  by  their  generosity  to 
the  vanquished;  Castile,  with  so 
stanch  a  mind  running  through 
its  ranks  of  spurred  and  cuirassed 
knights,  its  tonsured  ecclesiastics, 
the  representatives  of  its  States, 


lit  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

all  holding  themselves  with  so  fear- 
less a  face  towards  their  sovereign, 
that,  how  direct  soever  his  de- 
scent, he  could  reign  only  by  their 
will,  giving  their  oath  of  allegiance, 
through  their  Cortes,  in  such  words 
as  these,  ringing  like  purest  steel : 

"We,  who  are  each  of  us  as  good 
as  you,  and,  altogether  more  power- 
ful than  you,  promise  obedience  to 
your  government,  if  you  maintain 
our  rights  and  liberties,  not  other- 
wise:" and,  moreover,  what  they 
swore  they  fulfilled  to  the  letter,  for 
both  issues. 

It  was  of  this  Castile  that  was 
born,  as  surely  as  of  John  the  Sec- 
ond, its  king,  and  Isabella  of  Portu- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  15 

gal,  its  queen,  on  the  22d  of  April, 
1451,  that  peerless  Christian  sover- 
eign, with  "all  the  royal  makings  of 
a  Queen,"  as  of  a  woman, 

ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE; 
the  events  of  whose  life,  like  some 
rugged  mountain  range  on  a  day 
of  October,  stand  sheathed  in  the 
charmed  atmosphere  of  her  own 
heroic  excellence,  of  her  own  ex- 
quisite womanly  goodness;  for  she 
was  the  flower  of  chivalry,  even  in 
old  Castile,  Spain. 

John  the  Second  died  regretting 
that  he  had  not  been  born  a  car- 
penter instead  of  a  king;  and  Hen- 
ry, his  son  by  his  first  queen,  Maria 
of  Aragon,  having  received  the  al- 


16  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

legiance  of  the  Cortez,  the  widowed 
queen,  Isabella  of  Portugal,  retired 
immediately  from  the  court  to  the 
little  town  of  Arevalo,  with  her 
young  son,  Alphonso,  and  the  in- 
fant Isabella,  then  only  four  years 
old. 

Under  the  maternal  eye  of  one 
who  would  have  redeemed  her  hus- 
band's reign  from  disgrace  had  it 
been  possible,  the  royal  children 
were  reared  in  a  seclusion  which 
preserved  them  from  the  flattery 
which  is  the  curse  of  princes,  and 
from  all  the  pernicious  influences  of 
a  court.  Were  instructed,  too,  in 
that  code  of  chivalrous  honor,  that 
morality  which  searches  to  the  mar- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  17 

row  of  the  bone  and  the  intention 
of  the  hidden  thought,  and  that 
love,  as  well  as  deference,  for  re- 
ligion, which  Isabella  of  Portu- 
gal knew  could  alone  secure  them 
from  the  evil  of  their  times;  and 
which  proved  sources  of  inexhausti- 
ble strength  to  the  beloved  daugh- 
ter in  whom  Providence  had  willed 
should  be  bound  up,  as  in  a  bun- 
dle of  precious  spices,  the  best  in- 
terests of  her  time  as  well  as  of 
her  kingdom. 

The  natural  graces  of  mind  and 
heart  of  the  young  Isabella  sent 
out  their  tender  shoots  in  this  gar- 
den, all  enclosed,  with  a  vigorous 
beauty  and  freshness  which  defied 


18  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

every  deteriorating  influence  of  her 
subsequent  life.  At  the  age  of  thir- 
teen, she  was  recalled  to  the  pal- 
ace by  her  brother,  Henry  the 
Fourth,  only  to  make  conspicuous 
the  blameless  purity  of  her  life  and 
the  exalted  motives  by  which  it 
was  uniformly  actuated. 

When  she  found  herself,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  constantly  in  dan- 
ger of  becoming  a  victim  to  the 
selfish  policy  of  the  king,  by  the 
proposing  of  alliances  utterly  dis- 
tasteful to  her  and  even  unsuitable, 
if  not  by  rank  at  least  by  dispari- 
ty of  years,  with  the  discretion 
characteristic  of  her  even  at  this 
early  age,  she  rested  her  refusal  on 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  19 

the  ground  that  "the  infantas  of 
Castile  could  not  be  disposed  of  in 
marriage,  without  the  consent  of 
the  nobles  of  the  realm." 

When  Henry  had  proved  himself 
so  unworth}r  of  the  fealty  of  his 
subjects  that  he  was  deposed  in  effi- 
gy, and  her  brother  Alphonso  being 
dead,  she  was  proffered  and  even 
entreated  to  accept  the  throne; 
was  informed,  moreover,  that  Se- 
ville, in  common  with  the  other 
cities  of  Andalusia,  had  unfurled 
its  standard  in  her  name,  she  re- 
plied: "While  my  brother  Henry 
lives,  none  other  has  a  right  to  the 
crown."  At  the  same  time  she  of- 
fered to  assist  her  brother  in  re- 


SO  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

forming  abuses  and  thus  to  recon- 
cile all  parties. 

The  result  of  her  magnanimity 
was  an  amnesty,  restoring  the  king 
to  his  throne,  her  own  succession 
to  the  crown  and  the  settlement 
usual  to  the  heir  apparent,  be- 
ing constitutionally  secured  to  her 
by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
Cortez;  which,  among  other  privi- 
leges, declared  that  she  should  not 
be  constrained  to  marry  in  opposi- 
tion to  her  own  wishes.  Her  pref- 
erence was  given  to  her  kinsman, 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  whom  his  fa- 
ther, John  the  Second,  in  order  to 
make  him  more  acceptable  as  her 
suitor,  had  named  king  of  Sicily. 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  21 

Isabella's  choice  vindicated  not 
only  her  judgment  but  her  taste. 
In  the  bloom  of  life  and  distin- 
guished for  the  comeliness  of  his 
person,  Ferdinand  had  displayed  in 
the  important  scenes  in  which  he 
had  borne  a  part  from  his  boyhood, 
a  chivalrous  valor  combined  with 
maturity  of  judgment  far  above 
his  years.  Themselves  descendants 
of  the  same  venerated  ancestors, 
speaking  the  same  noble  language, 
molded  by  similar  traditions  to  a 
similarity  of  manners  and  even 
characteristics,  while  their  king- 
doms, by  their  geographical  posi- 
tion, might  be  regarded  as  natural 
allies,  the  union  of  two  such  mon- 


SS  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

archies  might  well  strike  the  far- 
reaching  mind  of  Isabella,  as  of  all 
others  to  be  desired  for  Castile. 
With  her  habitual  prudence,  how- 
ever, she  fortified  her  action  in  this 
matter  by  the  approbation  of  the 
archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  also  of 
the  admiral  of  Castile,  a  nobleman 
who  could  answer  for  the  mind  of 
all  the  grandees  of  the  kingdom. 

It  was  under  such  protection  and 
advice  that  her  romantic  marriage 
to  Ferdinand  was  accomplished, 
notwithstanding  Henry's  opposition 
and  even  threats  of  imprisonment, 
on  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1469,  in  the  palace  temporarily 
occupied  by  Isabella,  at  Valladolid; 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  23 

in  the  presence,  too,  of  the  nobility 
with  those  of  inferior  rank  num- 
bering, all  together,  not  less  than 
two  thousand. 

At  this  time,  Ferdinand  was  in 
the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age. 
His  complexion  was  fair,  although 
somewhat  bronzed  by  constant  ex- 
posure to  the  sun;  his  eye  quick 
and  cheerful;  his  forehead  ample, 
and  approaching  to  baldness;  his 
muscular,  well-proportioned  frame 
invigorated  by  the  toils  of  war  and 
by  the  chivalrous  exercises  in  which 
he  delighted.  He  was  one  of  the 
best  horsemen  in  his  court  and  ex- 
celled in  field  sports  of  every  kind. 
His  voice  was  somewhat  sharp,  but 


S4  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

he  was  fluent  in  his  eloquence  and 
when  he  had  a  point  to  carry,  was 
courteous  and  even  insinuating. 
His  health  was  insured  by  extreme 
temperance  in  his  diet,  and  such 
were  his  habits  of  activity,  that  he 
seemed  to  find  rest  in  business. 

Isabella  was  a  year  older  than 
Ferdinand.  In  stature  she  was 
somewhat  above  the  middle  size. 
Her  complexion  was  fair,  her  hair 
of  a  bright  chestnut  color,  inclin- 
ing to  red,  and  her  mild  blue  eye 
beamed  with  sensibility  and  in- 
telligence. She  was,  in  fact,  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful;  "the  handsom- 
est lady,"  said  one  of  her  house- 
hold, "whom  I  ever  beheld,  and 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  25 

the  most  gracious  in  her  manners." 
The  portrait  still  existing  of  her 
in  the  royal  palace,  charms  one  ir- 
resistibly by  the  open  symmetry 
of  features,  indicating  a  natural 
serenity  of  temper,  and  also  that 
rare  harmony  of  intellectual,  mor- 
al and  womanly  qualities,  which 
formed  a  character  seldom  to  be 
portrayed  in  history.  Her  demean- 
or was  dignified,  while  her  modesty 
bore  upon  reserve.  The  Castilian 
language  was  spoken  by  her  with 
even  more  than  usual  elegance;  in 
which  we  see  the  trace  of  her  royal 
father's  love  of  literature,  which 
had  fostered  a  golden  age  of  poesy 
at  the  court  of  Castile.  Yet  with 


26  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

all  these  satisfactory  endowments 
of  mind  and  person,  it  is  to  be  ac- 
knowledged, such  was  the  pover- 
ty of  these  royal  personages,  that 
money  was  borrowed  for  the  ex- 
penses of  the  wedding. 

But  the  heart  of  Isabella  was  not 
one  to  rest  easy  while  one  element 
of  discord  remained  in  hand  to  dis- 
pel. Henry  was  her  brother.  A 
meeting  was  arranged  for  them  at 
Segovia,  and  Henry,  who,  with  all 
his  faults,  possessed  a  natural  amia- 
bility which  could  not  resist  the 
explanations  of  one  as  candid  as 
Isabella,  whom  he  must  have  loved 
in  his  heart,  gave  public  expression 
to  the  good  understanding  existing 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.        27 

between  them,  by  walking  at  her 
side  and  holding  the  bridle  of  her 
palfrey,  as  she  rode  along  the  streets 
of  the  city.  Ferdinand  was  then 
in  Aragon,  but  on  his  return  to  Cas- 
tile, hastened  to  Segovia  and  was 
welcomed  by  Henry  with  every  ap- 
pearance of  satisfaction.  Nor  was 
this  too  soon  for  his  sister's  peace 
of  mind,  for  Henry  the  Fourth  died 
on  the  llth  of  December,  1474. 

Immediately  upon  the  death  of 
Henry,  Isabella  was  proclaimed 
queen,  with  the  usual  solemnities, 
on  the  great  square  of  Segovia,  from 
which  the  royal  procession  moved 
to  the  Cathedral;  where,  after  the 
Te  Deum  had  been  chanted,  she 


28  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

prostrated  herself  before  the  high 
altar,  returning  solemn  thanks  to 
Almighty  God  who  had  thus  pre- 
served her  for  his  service,  and  im- 
ploring the  light  of  heavenly  wis- 
dom for  the  proper  discharge  of 
her  high  duties. 

As  a  proof  that  her  prayer  for 
wisdom  had  been  heard,  may  be 
given,  not  only  the  clear-sighted- 
ness which  kept  in  her  own  hand 
all  the  essential  rights  of  sover- 
eignty in  her  dominion  of  Castile, 
but  the  candor  of  the  arguments 
by  which  she  reconciled  Ferdinand 
to  a  distribution  of  power;  which, 
she  assured  him,  was  more  nominal 
than  real  between  themselves,  for 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.        29 

their  interests  could  not  be  di- 
vided in  the  present  or  the  future; 
while  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown 
would  be  irrevocably  and  peace- 
fully preserved  to  their  successor, 
even  if  this  proved  to  be  a  daugh- 
ter. Nor  were  these  the  merely 
plausible  pretexts  of  a  woman  of 
tact.  From  first  to  last,  Ferdinand 
found  himself  not  only  associated 
with  her,  but  his  own  plans  filled 
out  by  her  wisdom  and  energy. 

*'I  well  remember,"  writes  one 
of  her  court,  "to  have  seen  the 
queen  with  the  king,  her  husband, 
sitting  in  judgment  in  the  alcazar 
of  Madrid,  every  Friday  as  was  the 
law  in  Castile,  dispensing  justice  to 


30  ISABELLA  OF  CASTIL& 

great  or  small  who  came  to  ask 
for  it;"  and  it  might  be  remarked  of 
other  countries  as  it  has  been  of 
Castile,  that  it  is  not  so  infrequent 
to  have  good  laws  as  to  have  rulers 
who  observe  them. 

But  Isabella  did  not  wait  for  the 
attendance  of  her  royal  consort  to 
enforce  justice  or  quell  insurrec- 
tion. She  was  at  Tordesillas  when 
tidings  came  that  the  people  of  Se- 
govia had  risen  up  against  Cabrera, 
to  whom  the  government  of  the 
city  had  been  entrusted,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  retire  to  the  citadel. 
Mounting  her  horse  and  attended 
by  Cardinal  Mendoza  and  other 
dignities  of  her  court,  she  pushed 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  §1 

on  to  Segovia,  entered  the  citadel 
and  then  descended  alone  to  the 
court  yard,  ordering  the  gates  to  be 
flung  wide  open  that  the  people 
might  enter.  As  the  excited  crowd 
poured  in,  she  said,  with  a  perfect- 
ly calm  voice  and  manner: 

"Tell  me  your  grievances  and  I 
will  do  all  in  my  power  to  redress 
them.  I  am  sure  what  is  for  your 
interest  must  be  also  for  mine  and 
for  that  of  the  whole  city."  All 
they  desired  was  the  removal  of 
Cabrera.  "He  is  deposed  already," 
said  the  queen,  "and  you  have  my 
authority  to  turn  out  such  of  his 
officers  as  are  still  in  the  castle, 
which  I  shall  intrust  to  my  own 


S3  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

servants  on  whom  I  can  rely."  The 
reply  to  this  was  a  shout:  "Long 
live  the  Queen!"  and  order  was  im- 
mediately restored.  Having  thus 
turned  the  edge  of  popular  fury, 
she  took  up  her  residence  in  the 
city  long  enough  to  secure  a  thor- 
ough investigation  of  facts,  when 
the  official,  whose  only  offense 
had  been  the  strict  administration 
of  law,  was  peaceably  restored  to 
his  office.  The  highest  encomium 
passed  upon  him  is,  that  he  re- 
tained the  full  confidence  of  this 
just  sovereign  to  the  end  of  her 
life. 

During  her  husband's  absence  in 
Aragon  in  the  spring  of  1481,  a 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  SB 

quarrel  took  place  in  the  ante- 
chamber of  her  palace  at  Valla- 
dolid,  between  two  young  noble- 
men, one  of  whom  was  a  son  of  her 
old  friend,  the  admiral  of  Castile 
and  a  kinsman  of  Ferdinand.  Hav- 
ing taken  the  weaker  party,  the 
young  lord  of  Toral,  under  her  pro- 
tection by  granting  him  a  safe  con- 
duct until  the  affair  was  adjusted, 
she  was  filled  with  indignation  on 
learning  that  the  kinsman  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  son  too  of  the  admiral, 
had  violated  the  peace  by  cudgeling 
his  foe  at  evening  in  the  streets 
of  the  city.  She  mounted  her  horse 
immediately,  though  in  the  midst 
of  a  heavy  rain  storm,  and  rode 


34  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

so  rapidly  towards  the  castle,  then 
in  possession  of  the  admiral,  where 
she  supposed  the  offender  had  taken 
refuge,  that  the  officers  in  attend- 
ance could  not  overtake  her  until 
she  had  reached  the  fortress,  where 
she  demanded  of  the  admiral  his 
son.  He  replied  that  he  was  not 
there.  Whereupon  she  demanded 
the  keys  and  searched  for  herself;  to 
return,  disappointed,  to  Valladolid. 
The  next  day  the  queen  was  ill 
in  bed  as  much  from  chagrin  as  ex- 
posure. "My  body  is  lame,"  she 
said,  "with  the  blows  given  by  Don 
Frederic  in  contempt  of  my  safe 
conduct."  Don  Frederic,  however, 
was  given  up  afterward  by  his  fa- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  35 

ther  who  pleaded  his  youth;  but 
not  so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  sovereigns  as  to  have  him  es- 
cape imprisonment. 

A  nobleman  had  been  convicted 
of  an  aggravated  capital  offense. 
To  obtain  some  commutation  of  his 
sentence,  he  offered  a  payment  to 
the  queen  of  a  sum  exceeding  the 
annual  rents  of  the  crown.  This 
was  refused,  but  his  estates,  legally 
confiscated,  were  allowed  to  de- 
scend to  his  heirs  while  he  suffered 
the  full  penalty  of  his  crime. 

Castile  was  now  one  with  its 
queen.  The  consideration  that  she 
had  won  for  it  by  her  very  mar- 
riage contract  with  the  king  of 


S6  ISA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Aragon,  the  renewal  of  this  consid- 
eration at  the  time  of  her  actual 
succession  to  the  throne,  notwith- 
standing the  danger  of  a  rupture 
with  a  husband  she  had  chosen  and 
to  whom  she  was  devotedly  at- 
tached, had  gained,  from  the  first, 
the  confidence  and  love  of  the  no- 
bles and  the  people  of  her  realm. 
No  one  interest  of  theirs  had  been 
overlooked  nor  had  one  honorable 
custom  been  disturbed.  To  name 
Isabella  was  to  name  Castile. 

When,  therefore,  Zahara,  a  small 
fortified  town  on  the  frontier  of 
Andalusia,  crowning  a  lofty  emi- 
nence, its  foot  laved  by  the  Guada- 
lete,  was  surprised  by  the  Moors, 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  37 

its  guard,  inhabitants,  men,  women 
and  children,  put  to  the  sword  or 
hurried  into  Moslem  slavery,  the 
pulse  of  Isabella  was  the  pulse  of 
her  people,  of  her  nobles,  of  the 
ecclesiastics  of  her  realm.  Feuds 
were  forgotten  and  Zahara  was 
avenged  by  the  surprise  of  Albania. 
But  those  who  had  won  it  doubted 
if  it  would  be  possible  to  retain 
their  prize  and  proposed  to  destroy 
it.  When  Isabella  with  Ferdinand 
reached  the  captured  town,  she  ex- 
claimed: "Let  us  hear  no  more  of 
the  destruction  of  Alhama.  The 
h'rst  fruit  of  our  victorious  arms, 
let  its  walls  be  sacred,  as  a  strong- 
hold granted  to  us  by  Heaven  in 


38  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE, 

the  midst  of  a  hostile  land."  The 
city  was  formally  taken  posses- 
sion of  with  the  most  magnificent 
ceremonies,  and  its  three  principal 
mosques  consecrated  as  Christian 
churches  by  Cardinal  Mendoza. 

Bells,  crosses,  a  sumptuous  sup- 
ply of  altar  vessels,  were  furnished 
by  the  queen,  and  the  principal 
church,  Saint  Mary  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, long  exhibited  a  covering  for 
the  high  altar,  richly  embroidered 
by  her  own  hands. 

The  key-note  to  the  conquest  of 
Granada  had  been  struck  by  Isa- 
bella. It  was  not  a  war  for  de- 
struction, not  a  war  for  treasures; 
but  the  love  of  that  faith  whose 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  39 

martyrs  the  Spanish  poet,  Pru- 
dentius,  had  sung  so  sweetly  in  the 
fourth  century,  and  which  had  been 
nourished  in  her  innocent  soul  dur- 
ing her  childhood  and  first  girl- 
hood in  the  seclusion  of  Arevalo, 
was  now  bearing  its  fruit,  by  turn- 
ing the  perishing  glories  of  mortal 
conquest  into  one  which  assured 
the  civilization  of  her  dominions 
under  the  only  banner,  which,  as  a 
Christian,  she  could  recognize. 

From  this  time  there  was  no 
swerving  from  the  path,  however 
arduous,  which,  under  such  inspira- 
tions, must  lead  to  victory.  She 
was  the  soul  of  the  war;  for  while 
Ferdinand  with  his  gallant  leaders, 


40  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

spurred  on  to  every  encounter, 
there  was  never  the  long  siege, 
the  more  than  ordinary  danger,  at 
which  the  queen  did  not  appear 
in  person,  giving  new  courage  by 
her  own  enthusiasm,  consoling  the 
sufferings  of  the  sick  and  wounded. 
It  was  during  this  memorable  war, 
and  during  one  of  its  most  pro- 
tracted sieges,  that  Isabella  raised 
spacious  tents,  supplied  with  every 
possible  comfort  for  the  sufferers, 
attended  by  her  own  physicians 
and  which  were  called  ''the  queen's 
hospitals;"  the  first  instance  on 
record  of  such  an  alleviation  of  the 
horrors  of  war.  Nor  was  it  alone 
when  in  the  camp  and  on  the  actu- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  41 

al  ground  of  battle,  that  her  arm 
was  the  strong  arm  upon  which 
all  leaned. 

During  the  siege  of  Cordova, 
where  the  amount  of  forces  gath- 
ered was  at  one  time  eighty  thou- 
sand, and  beasts  of  burden  the  only 
means  for  transportation,  it  was 
Isabella  who  directed  their  supplies 
as  well  as  of  the  conquered  cities; 
moving  along  the  frontier,  station- 
ing herself  at  points  nearest  the 
scene  of  action,  where,  by  means  of 
posts  regularly  established,  she  re- 
ceived hourly  intelligence  of  the 
war;  transmitting  supplies  of  mu- 
nition and  provisions  along  the 
mountain  ways  with  convoys  pro- 


4S  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

portioned  to  the  dangers  of  sur- 
prise. 

Another  care  was  to  assemble 
new  levies  of  troops,  and  the  alacri- 
ty with  which  all  ranks  of  men 
from  every  quarter  of  the  king- 
dom, answered  her  summons,  is 
still  one  of  the  marvels  of  this  war. 
Roads  were  constructed  for  artil- 
lery across  mountain  passes  by 
leveling  their  summits,  filling  up 
valleys  with  rocks  or  cork  trees 
that  grew  to  an  enormous  size  in 
the  wilderness,  and  by  throwing 
bridges  over  torrents. 

But  her  chief  solicitude  was  to 
raise  the  sums  necessary  to  meet 
this  enormous  expenditure;  to  do 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.        43 

which  she  had  recourse  to  loans 
from  individuals  arid  religious  cor- 
porations, obtained  without  diffi- 
culty from  the  universal  confidence 
in  her  good  faith.  As  time  went 
on,  these*  loans  were  secured  by 
mortgages  on  the  royal  domains; 
and  at  last,  the  queen  pawnedr  the 
crown  jewels  and  her  own  personal 
ornaments,  to  the  merchants  of 
Barcelona  and  Valencia,  for  such 
sums  as  they  were  willing  to  ad- 
vance on  them. 

The  empire  of  Isabella  was  not 
bounded  by  Castile  and  Leon,  nor 
by  her  authority  as  sovereign ;  for  it 
was  true  of  her  as  of  hardly  any 
sovereign  in  any  age,  that  her  em- 


44  ISA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

pire  was  in  the  hearts  of  her  people. 
She  had  endeared  herself  to  them 
by  her  womanly  sympathy,  by  the 
tears  shed  over  their  misfortunes; 
but  when  they  saw  her  directing 
the  national  counsels,  sharing  fa- 
tigues, dangers,  and  all  this  with 
a  broad  intellectual  power  of  com- 
prehension usually  denied  to  her 
sex,  the  devotion  to  her  was  more 
than  loyalty;  was  mingled  with 
a  chivalrous  veneration  which  wo- 
man alone  can  inspire;  and  wo- 
man, too,  in  an  age  and  country 
which  honors  her  who  was  called 
"Blessed  among  women,"  as  the 
ideal  type  of  all  succeeding  genera- 
tions. 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.        45 

Into  the  presence  of  this  woman, 
whose  royal  endowments  of  heart, 
of  mind,  and  of  soul,  had  been  re- 
inforced by  a  life  of  unselfishly 
heroic  action,  now  advances  one 
whose  fame  is  to  be  henceforth  as- 
sociated with  hers  as  the  crown- 
ing glory  of  Isabella,  queen  of  Cas- 
tile. He  bears  with  him  no  trap- 
pings of  knighthood,  and  yet  he 
stands  forth  from  that  background 
of  grand  Christian  knights,  of  val- 
orous leaders  and  conquerors,  as 
if  he,  alone,  could  have  worthily 
filled  that  page  of  Spain's  glorious 
history.  He  brings  with  him  no 
credentials  from  other  powers,  al- 
though he  has  visited  courts,  has 


46  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

laid  his  cause  before  princes.  His 
only  endorsement  that  of  a  humble 
Franciscan  friar,  guardian  of  the 
convent  of  La  Rabida,  close  to  the 
little  sea-port  town  of  Palos  in  An- 
dalusia. 

To  Fra  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena 
he  had  become  known,  by  asking 
hospitality  at  the  convent  gate  for 
himself  and  his  young  son,  Diego. 
But  the  brother  who  reported  their 
guest  to  the  father  guardian,  had 
spoken  of  him  as  a  man  of  singular 
nobleness  of  bearing,  and  when  Fra 
Perez  joined  him  he  found  him 
already  deep  in  conversation  with 
his  friend,  Doctor  Garcia  Hernan- 
dez. His  angel  had  surely  guided 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  .         47 

the  stranger  to  La  Rabida  and  to 
Fra  Perez;  for  not  only  was  the  soul 
of  the  pious  Franciscan  accustomed 
in  the  hour  of  meditation  to  soar 
"where  the  King  of  kings  sits  upon 
his  starry  throne,"  but  from  his 
observatory  on  the  convent  roof 
he  watched,  hour  after  hour,  the 
course  of  the  celestial  worlds,  and 
night  after  night  had  gone  to  his 
hard  couch  to  wonder  if  they  did 
not  shine  upon  other  continents 
on  this  earth  than  the  one  on  which 
he  dwelt,  and  if  the  salt  sea  waves 
that  licked  his  shore,  did  not  break 
upon  others  beyond  the  ken  of 
their  present  voyagers.  No  sooner 
then  had  his  guest,  the  Genoese, 


48  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Christopher  Columbus,  disclosed  the 
dream  of  his  life  to  Fra  Perez,  than 
he  saw  his  own  dreams  realized. 

The  Franciscan,  humbly  as  he 
bore  himself,  had  been  the  con- 
fessor of  queen  Isabella,  and  like 
every  one  who  had  once  been  near 
her,  his  confidence  in  her  wisdom, 
as  well  as  in  her  goodness,  was 
unbounded.  He  would  write  a  let- 
ter, not  directly  to  her  majesty,  but 
in  a  way  to  secure  to  Columbus 
a  friend  at  court;  no  other  than 
his  own  friend,  Fra  Fernando  de 
Talavera,  prior  of  our  Lady  of  Pra- 
do  at  Valladolid.  But  Talavera 
was  more  learned  in  theology  and 
morals  than  in  geography,  and  he 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  49 

only  wondered  at  the  credulity  of 
Fra  Perez,  resolving  not  to  disturb 
their  majesties  with  any  such  wild 
schemes. 

There  was  a  keener    eye    than 
that  of  Talavera,   however,  which 

was  at  last  directed  towards  Colum- 

i 

bus;  that  of  Cardinal  Mendoza,  an 
elegant  scholar,  lofty  and  venerable 
in  his  deportment,  and  who  con- 
tinued, during  his  life,  to  be  the 
chief  advisor  of  the  queen.  The 
extraordinary  merit  of  this  Genoese 
must  be  made  known  to  the  queen, 
and  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  obtain 
an  audience  for  him. 

The  motives  which  Columbus  had 
put  before  the  merchants  of  Ven- 


50  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE, 

ice  aiid  Genoa,  before  King  John 
of  Portugal,  by  an  inspiration,  it 
would  seem,  an  instinctive  appre- 
ciation of  the  motives  which  con- 
trolled Isabella,  were  laid  aside  in 
her  presence.  He  spoke  to  her  as 
he  had  spoken  so  often  to  Fra  Perez 
under  the  stars  at  La  Rabid  a,  of 
the  absolute  certainty  of  continents 
on  the  other  side  of  this  round 
world;  continents  peopled  by  races 
to  whom  the  true  God  was  not 
known,  to  whom  the  Gospel  of  the 
Nazarene  had  not  been  preached; 
nations  sitting  in  the  shades  of 
death.  The  intellect  of  Isabella 
seized,  instantly,  the  geographical 
problem  and  her  woman's  heart 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  51 

and  her  lofty  faith  appropriated  the 
future  destiny  of  those  races  for 
time  and  eternity  as  in  her  hand. 
Her  cheeks  glowed,  her  blue  eyes 
kindled,  the  delicate  nostrils  di- 
lated, as.  Columbus  grew  eloquent 
under  the  thrill  of  her  sympathy. 
The  Cardinal  was  satisfied. 

Columbus,  his  genius,  his  exalted 
motives,  had  been  appreciated  by 
the  queen  as  they  deserved.  There 
was  still  another  ecclesiastic  whose 
white  habit  and  cowl  covered  a 
soul  large  enough  to  take  in  the 
views  of  Columbus;  this  was  Deza, 
archbishop  of  Seville,  a  Dominican. 
When  the  freezing  policy  of  Ferdi- 
nand had  placed  Talavera  over  a 


52  TSA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE 

council  which  was  to  judge  of  the 
merits  of  this  idea  of  discovery, 
the  council  was  held  in  the  Domini- 
can convent  of  Saint  Stephen  at 
Salamanca,  where  the  court  of  the 
sovereigns  then  was.  The  council 
decided  against  Columbus  and  his 
new  world;  but  the  Dominicans, 
at  whose  own  expense  he  was  then 
lodged,  were  favorable  in  their 
judgment,  and  their  first  professor 
of  theology,  Diego  de  Deza,  our 
archbishop  of  Seville,  was  com- 
pletely convinced  by  the  reasoning 
of  Columbus,  and  finally  gained  the 
leading  men  of  the  University  of 
Salamanca  to  his  side. 
The  winter  passed  away  before 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  53 

the  council  at  Salamanca  came  to 
any  decision,  and  early  in  the 
spring  of  1487,  Ferdinand  took  the 
field  with  twenty  thousand  cavalry 
and  fifty  thousand  foot,  while  the 
queen  remained  at  Cordova  to  pre- 
side over  the  affairs  of  government, 
to  provide  for  the  necessities  of 
the  vast  army.  How  could  Colum- 
bus expect  Isabella  in  the  face 
of  such  immediate  exigencies,  to 
give  her  attention  to  a  project, 
which,  however  momentous,  could 
be  delayed  without  positive  danger 
or  utter  ruin;  which  could  not  be 
said  of  the  war  against  Granada? 
When  he  reminded  the  sovereigns 
that  their  answer  was  still  pending, 


54  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Talavera  was  instructed  to  give 
the  decision  of  the  council,  but 
to  add  this  mollifying  clause,  that 
as  soon  as  the  war  was  over  there 
should  be  a  fresh  investigation  of 
his  claims. 

From  this  time  Columbus  might 
be  considered  as  in  some  manner 
attached  to  the  court;  and  Isabella, 
so  mindful  of  all  claims  upon  her, 
did  not  neglect  to  furnish  him  with 
the  means  of  maintaining  this  un- 
defined position.  Still,  the  war 
seemed  no  nearer  its  end  than 
years  before,  and  his  heart  must 
have  been  sorely  wounded  at  the 
altogether  secondary  importance  of 
his  cause. 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  55 

The  siege  of  Baza  had  come  to  a 
glorious  close,  and  the  festivities  in 
1490  for  the  marriage  of  the  be- 
loved daughter  of  the  sovereigns, 
the  infanta  Isabella,  to  Don  Al- 
phonso,  t(he  prince  of  Portugal,  had 
been  conducted  in  a  manner  suited 
to  the  virtues  of  this  amiable  prin- 
cess arid  the  attachment  felt  for 
her;  above  all  by  her  mother,  to 
whom  she  had  been,  from  her  earli- 
est years  and  in  seasons  of  danger, 
an  unspeakably  dear  companion. 
But  the  utter  desolation  of  soul 
which,  with  all  these  scenes  before 
him,  gradually  overcame  the  confi- 
dence of  Columbus  in  the  patron- 
age of  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  de- 


56  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

termined  him  to  leave  Spain;  yet 
he  could  not  go  without  making 
one  more  effort.  If  the  king  and 
queen  were  too  engrossed  with  the 
campaign,  there  were  other  Span- 
'iards,  of  almost  regal  wealth,  who 
could  fit  out  his  little  armament. 

He  applied  to  the  duke  of  Medina 
Sidonia,  but  his  mind,  also,  was 
wholly  upon  Granada.  He  then 
turned  to  the  duke  of  Medina  Celi, 
who  consented  to  furnish  him  with 
the  really  small  sum  needed;  but, 
at  the  last  moment,  bethought  him- 
self that  an  enterprise  of  such  im- 
portance belonged  to  the  crown, 
rather  than  to  a  subject,  and  he 
wrote  to  the  queen  to  give  it  her 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.        to 

sanction.  Her  answer  was  gra- 
cious, begging  him  to  leave  the 
honor  of  the  expedition  to  the 
sovereigns,  while  at  the  same  time 
she  summoned  Columbus  to  her 
presence,  assuring  him  that  at  the 
end  of  the  war  he  should  receive 
full  satisfaction. 

This  indefmiteness  no  longer  con- 
soled him  and  his  mind  was  turned 
towards  the  king  of  France,  who 
had  written  him  an  encouraging 
letter.  But  he  could  not  leave 
Spain  without  visiting,  perhaps  bid- 
ding farewell  to  his  faithful  friend, 
Fra  Perez  at  La  Rabida.  The  heart 
of  the  good  Franciscan  ached,  as  he 
listened  to  the  story  of  hope  de- 


£8  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

ferred  from  the  lips  of  Columbus. 
It  could  not  be  that  he  had  been 
mistaken  in  the  project  itself;  and 
calling  in  his  friend,  Don  Garcia 
Hernandez,  they  put  Columbus 
through  his  proofs,  with  the  objec- 
tions and  solutions,  as  severely  as 
another  council  of  Salamanca  could 
do.  Both  were  convinced,  and  the 
friar  of  La  Rabida  saw  no  time  was 
to  be  lost  if  Spain  and  his  royal 
mistress  were  to  bear  off  the  honors 
of  the  expedition,  secure  the  spirit- 
ual graces  of  such  a  harvest  of 
souls. 

As  the  former  confessor  of  the 
queen,  he  was  certain  that  she 
would  listen  to  him,  and  this  time 


V 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  69 

there  should  be  no  intervention. 
He  wrote  with  his  own  hand  a 
letter  to  Isabella,  which  should  be 
placed  without  delay  in  hers.  The 
messenger  was  an  experienced  sail- 
or and  a  trusty  envoy,  Sebastian 
Rodriguez.  It  found  the  queen  at 
Santa  Fe,  still  in  the  midst  of 
ever  increasing  exigencies.  In  two 
weeks,  however,  Rodriguez  returned 
with  an  invitation  to  the  Fran- 
ciscan friar  to  visit  the  queen,  and 
a  message  of  encouragement  to  Co- 
lumbus. The  friar  had  no  mule 
of  his  own,  but  one  was  borrowed. 
He  found  the  ear  of  his  royal  peni- 
tent still  open  to  him ;  for  she  heard 
the  same  unworldly  voice  calling 


60  ISA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

her  to  scale  the  heights,  and  his 
call  was  irresistible. 

The  next  summons  was  to  Colum- 
bus himself,  but  the  last  struggle 
with  Granada  was  under  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  and  the  world's  ear 
was  listening  for  "the  last  sigh  of 
the  Moor."  All  things  must  wait 
a  few  days  to  watch  the  death 
agony  of  a  war  that  had  lasted 
eight  hundred  years.  On  the  2d  of 
January,  1492,  the  Moorish  king 
delivered  to  Ferdinand  the  keys  of 
Alhambra;  the  standards  of  Castile 
and  Saint  James  waved  from  the 
red  towers  of  the  capital  of  Grana- 
da, and  the  silver  cross  borne  by 
the  king  through  the  whole  crusade 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  61 

sparkled  in  the  sunbeams.  At  this 
sight  the  choir  of  the  royal  chapel 
broke  forth  in  the  solemn  anthem 
of  the  Te  Deum,  and  the  whole 
army,  penetrated  with  the  same 
emotions  of  gratitude  as  their  sover- 
eign lady  and  her  consort,  pros- 
trated themselves  on  their  knees  in 
adoration  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  who 
had  granted  this  triumph  of  the 
Cross. 

In  the  midst  of  these  solemn  re- 
joicings, the  queen  kept  her  prom- 
ise and  sent  for  Columbus.  She 
had  full  faith  in  him,  she  accepted 
his  project;  but  there  were  terms  to 
be  arranged,  and  unfortunately  it 
seemed  proper  that  Fra  Talavera, 


C2  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

now  bishop  of  Granada,  should  ar- 
range them.  Years  of  waiting  had 
not  changed  the  mind  of  Columbus 
concerning  the  peaceful  conquest 
of  a  new  world  for  the  crown  of 
Castile  and  Leon,  and  this  was  too 
exalted  a  view  to  take  of  the  enter- 
prise to  the  mind  of  Talavera. 
Against  her  better  judgment,  Isa- 
bella was  persuaded  to  say  this 
and  Columbus  took  his  departure. 
Spain  would  not  pay  the  price  and 
the  price  would  not  be  altered. 

Columbus  mounted  his  mule  and 
rode  from  Santa  Fe  towards  Cordo- 
va. This  was  the  end  of  eighteen 
years  of  waiting  upon  the  powers 
of  this  world!  They  must  have 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.        es 

seemed  small  indeed  to  the  eyes 
of  Columbus  in  this  hour  of  bitter- 
est disappointment.  Even  Isabel- 
la, so  far  exalted  above  the  other 
sovereigns  of  the  world,  had  dis- 
puted with  him  the  small  boon 
he  had  named  as  his  price  for 
what  would  be  the  noblest  and  the 
most  precious  gem  in  her  crown! 
What  more  was  there  to  hope 
for?  Whither  should  he  turn? 
But  there  was  One  in  whom  Co- 
lumbus trusted  with  a  faith,  a 
habitual,  practical  confidence,  of 
which  only  sublime  natures  are  ca- 
pable. He  had  never  lost  faith  in 
his  cause,  for  it  was,  to  him,  mani- 
festly the  cause  of  God,  and  at  that 


64  ISABELLA  OF  CASTlLti. 

moment  his  confidence  in  God  him- 
self, was  at  high  tide.  After  all, 
what  was  this  price  which  had 
been  deemed  too  exorbitant  for 
him  to  demand?  Not  treasures  of 
gold  unless  gold  was  found;  noth- 
ing, in  fact  unless  the  enterprise 
were  successful.  He  had,  indeed, 
stipulated  for  himself  and  his  heirs 
the  title  and  the  authority  of  Ad- 
miral and  Viceroy,  but  only  over 
the  lands  discovered  by  him,  with 
one  tenth  of  the  profits;  was  this 
too  much  even  for  an  adventurer  to 
ask? 

But  while  these  thoughts  were 
coursing  so  bitterly  through  his 
mind,  a  tide,  counter  to  that  of 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  65 

Talavera,  had  set  towards  Isabella. 
Luis  de  Saint  Angel,  receiver  of 
ecclesiastical  revenues,  Alonzo  de 
Quintanilla,  comptroller  general  of 
finance,  at  whose  house  Colum- 
bus had  .been  staying,  were  over- 
whelmed with  shame  and  grief. 
Saint  Angel  went  immediately  to 
the  queen  and  remonstrated  with 
her  on  her  refusal  of  such  terms, 
which,  if  they  seemed  high,  were 
contingent  upon  success  when  they 
would  be,  most  certainly,  deserved. 
He  ventured  even  to  remind  her 
that  this  refusal  did  not  accord  with 
the  magnanimity  she  had  shown 
in  every  great  enterprise,  above  all, 
those  involving  the  interests  of 


66  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Christendom.  So  far  from  resent- 
ing his  plain  speech,  it  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  her  own  inmost  con- 
victions, and  their  support  from 
such  a  quarter  was  like  giving 
her  her  freedom,  while  QuintanilJa 
urged  upon  her  the  sajne  considera- 
tions. 

But  where  was  he  who  shared 
the  exalted  confidence  of  Colum- 
bus in  One  who  "holds"  not  only 
"the  waters,"  but  what  must  have 
seemed,  at  that  moment,  more 
fickle  still,  the  hearts  of  princes  "in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand?"  From 
the  moment  Columbus  turned  the 
head  of  his  mule  from  Santa  Fe, 
Fra  Juan  Perez  had  betaken  him- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  6? 

self  to  the  Queen's  own  chapel; 
before  the  altar,  before  the  hidden 
Guest  of  its  tabernacle,  praying 
that  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  coun- 
sel might  come  to  her  soul,  inspire 
her  decision.  While  Saint  Angel 
pleaded  and  Quintanilla  urged,  the 
sighs  of  the  Franciscan  monk 
opened  the  heaven  of  heavens  from 
which  descended  that  Spirit  which 
comes  not  at  the  call  of  human 
eloquence,  and  Isabella's  irrevoca- 
ble decision  triumphed  over  the  in- 
difference of  Ferdinand,  over  the 
short-sightedness  of  Talavera,  over 
the  very  emptiness  of  her  exhausted 
treasury. 
With  all  the  warmth  and  en- 


68  TSA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

thusiasm  of  her  chivalrous  soul, 
she  exclaimed:  "I  will  assume  the 
undertaking  for  my  own  crown  of 
Castile  and  am  ready  to  pawn  my 
jewels  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the 
expedition,  if  the  funds  of  the  royal 
treasury  do  not  suffice."  It  was 
solely  as  Isabella  of  Castile,  that 
she  pledged  her  support  to  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  and  as  Isabella  of 
Castile,  she  would  be  the  co-dis- 
coverer of  the  New  World. 

A  courier  was  dispatched  to  over- 
take and  bring  back  Columbus  to 
the  royal  presence.  She  could  not 
cielay  the  assurance  that  his  long 
years  of  waiting  were  over.  She 
longed  to  give  him  her  royal  hand, 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  69 

to  pour  into  his  proud  and  deeply 
injured  spirit  the  wine  of  joy  and 
the  oil  of  a  supreme  consolation. 
There  was  a  reparation  to  be  made 
by  her,  Isabella  of  Castile,  to  the 
man  who  had  waited  so  long  at  her 
gates,  pleaded  so  long  at  the  posts 
of  her  doors,  and  no  one  should 
say  that  it  had  not  been  made  right 
royally,  as  became  Isabella  of  old 
Castile,  Spain.  There  was  no  duke 
or  marquis  in  all  her  train,  upon 
whom  she  had  bestowed  the  largess 
of  her  peerless  approbation,  who 
should  not  honor  this  Columbus, 
and  envy  him  the  conquest  sure 
to  be  won  by  his  genius,  by  his 
unflinching  perseverance  and  the 


70  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

exaltation  of  his  motives,  which 
made  his  enterprise  sacred  in  his 
eyes  as  it  was,  from  that  hour,  in 
the  eyes  of  Isabella. 

The  courier  reached  Columbus  at 
the  bridge  of  Pinos,  two  or  three 
leagues  from  Granada.  For  a  mo- 
ment he  hesitated; -but  when  con- 
vinced that  the  messenger  was  from 
the  queen  and  bore  her  pledge  and 
promise,  he  confided  in  her  royal 
word,  turned  his  mule  at  once  and 
retraced  his  steps  to  Santa  Fe, 
chanting,  in  the  silence  of  his  great 
and  deeply  tried  soul,  IN  TE,  DOMI- 
NE,  SPERAVI;  "In  thee,  0  Lord,  have 
I  hoped." 

There  was  no  delay  now  that  Isa- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  71 

bella's  hand  had  been  put  forth. 
Three  caravels  were  manned,  pro- 
visioned, ready  to  sail  in  three 
months.  Moreover,  in  addition  to 
the  winning  graciousness  of  her 
manner  to  him  personally,  and  to 
the  unconditional  grants  for  what- 
ever was  necessary,  she  conferred, 
what  must  have  been  a  balm  to  a 
sensitive  and  wounded  spirit,  the 
appointment  of  his  son,  Don  Diego, 
as  one  of  the  pages  of  honor  to 
prince  Juan,  a  distinction  coveted 
by  the  highest  grandees  of  Spain; 
while  the  same  distinction  was  ex- 
tended by  her,  a  few  days  after, 
to  Diego's  half  brother,  Don  Fer- 
nando. 


72  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

The  little  sea-port  town  of  Palos, 
overlooked  by  La  Rabida  and  its 
prior,  Fra  Perez,  was  the  port  from 
which  Columbus  was  to  sail,  as  if 
the  good  Franciscan,  with  all  his 
other  godly  service,  were  to  bring 
him  fair  winds.  On  Friday,  the  3d 
of  August,  1492,  the  Santa  Maria, 
Pinta  and  Nina,  unfurled  their 
sails  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  The 
Santa  Maria,  the  Admiral's  ship, 
carried  the  royal  ensign  of  the 
fleet,  bearing  the  image  of  Jesus 
crucified. 

Every  evening  as  they  ploughed 
through  that  waste  of  waters,  on 
which  no  sail  had  ever  before  been 
spread,  the  anthem  of  the  season, 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  73 

SALVE  REGINA,  to  which  Saint  Ber- 
nard of  Clairvaux  had  already 
added  his  ejaculation: 

O  clemens,  O  pia, 
O  dulcis  Virgo  Maria! 
"0  clement,  0  pious,  0  sweet  Virgin 
Mary!"  was  intoned  on  the  admi- 
ral's ship,  to  be  caught  up  by 
the  crews  of  the  Pinta  and  Nina. 
Every  evening,  Isabella  of  Castile, 
as  she  closed  her  Book  of  Hours,  re- 
cited the  same;  and  as  the  constel- 
lations came  out  one  by  one,  must 
have  added  that  sweet  Hymn:  AVE 
MARTS  STELLA,  "Hail,  Star  of  the 
Sea,"  as  did  those  mariners,  moving 
forward  in  a  double  darkness  of 
night  and  of  knowledge. 


74  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

There  were  months  of  silence,  ab- 
solute-, unbroken;  but  on  the  15th 
of  March,  1493,  the  caravel  with  the 
admiral's  flag  at  the  mast  head, 
sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Palos,  and 
to  Fra  Perez  came  the  joy  of  saying 
the  Mass  of  Thanksgiving.  Colum- 
bus went  forward  to  Seville,  dis- 
patching from  thence  the  announce- 
ment of  his  return  to  the  sover- 
eigns. The  summons  to  appear  be- 
fore their  majesties  was  addressed 
thus:  "To  Don  Christopher  Colum- 
bus, our  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  Sea, 
Viceroy  and  Governor  of  the  islands 
discovered  in  the  Indies,"  and  he 
was  to  come  forthwith  to  Barce- 
lona. His  faithful  sailors  had  been 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  75 

called  by  Columbus  to  join  in  his 
triumph. . 

The  whole  country  was  alive  with 
curiosity  and  a  reception,  in  the 
grandest  style  of  Spanish  cere- 
monial, was  prepared  for  him.  As 
he  approached  the  town,  he  was 
met  by  an  escort  of  noble  young 
cavaliers  and  a  surging  throng  of 
citizens.  Himself  on  horseback,  he 
was  fit,  by  his  stately  bearing  and 
commanding  presence,  to  be  the 
central  figure  of  this  almost  Ro- 
man triumph.  A  seat,  splendidly 
adorned,  was  placed  close  in  front 
of  the  two  royal  thrones,  which 
that  day  surpassed  their  usual  mag- 
nificence, where  the  sovereigns 


76  TSA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

were  already  seated  to  receive  Co- 
lumbus, while  the  doors  of  the 
great  audience  hall  were  thrown 
wide  open. 

Both  sovereigns  rose  to  greet  him 
as  he  approached.  In  vain  he  tried 
to  kneel,  to  kiss  their  hands;  nor, 
till  he  had  taken  his  seat  would 
they  resume  their  own,  requesting 
him  to  narrate  the  events  of  his 
voyage.  With  a  modesty  and  self- 
possession  which  charmed  every 
one,  above  all,  Isabella,  he  told 
them  of  the  new  dominions  which 
God  had  put  into  their  hands,  and 
when  his  narrative  was  concluded, 
the  king  and  the  queen,  with  the 
vast  multitude  present,  fell  on  their 


I 


J 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  77 

knees,  thanking  God  for  the  mighty 
deeds  of  Christopher  Columbus. 

The  new  hero  of  Spain  remained 
in  Barcelona  until  the  28th  of  May, 
receiving  continual  proofs  of  the 
confidence  of  the  sovereigns;  their 
instructions  being,  really,  his  own 
suggestions  adopted  without  an 
amendment  or  addition,  and  rati- 
fied by  the  royal  authority.  The 
royal  seal  was  committed  to  him  to 
use  at  his  discretion  and  the  first 
articles  as  agreed  upon  at  San- 
ta Fe,  solemnly  confirmed.  The 
queen  showed  the  greatest  regard 
for  his  personal  comfort,  provided 
liberally  for  his  expenses  and  re- 
quired implicit  deference  to  his 


78  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

wishes.  The  equipment  of  the  fleet 
for  a  second  voyage,  under  the  ac- 
tive management  of  Isabella,  was 
conceived  in  a  most  generous  spirit 
and  vigorously  carried  out. 

Fra  Perez  de  Marchena  was  ap- 
pointed to  accompany  Columbus, 
"because,"  as  the  queen  said,  "he 
is  a  good  astronomer  and  has  al- 
ways seemed  to  me  in  complete 
accord  with  you."  Was  not  that 
courtier  right,  who  said:  "She  is 
the  most  gracious  lady  I  ever  be- 
held?" for  her  approbation  was  ir- 
radiated by  a  charm  altogether  her 
own.  During  the  interval  between 
his  setting  sail  on  the  25th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1493,  and  his  arrival  in 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  79 

Cadiz  on  the  llth  of  June,  1496, 
enemies  had  been  silenced  by  a 
letter  from  Isabella  addressed  not 
only  to  her  viceroy  of  the  Indies, 
but  to  the  colonists,  bidding  them 
obey  him  as  herself,  and  no  mis- 
representations prevented  her  re- 
ceiving him  with  all  the  cordiality 
of  her  ingenuous  nature;  while  soon 
after,  an  unofficial  letter  written 
to  him  by  Isabella,  and  still  extant, 
bears  witness  to  her  undirninished 
approbation  for  the  discoverer,  and 
even  her  veneration. 

On  his  third  expedition,  still 
more  virulent  enmity  was  excited 
against  Columbus,  and  in  his  ab- 
sence, his  accusers  were  so  far  sue- 


80  ISA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

cessful  as  to  induce  Isabella  to  con- 
sent to  the  writing  of  a  letter  run- 
ning thus:  "Don  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus, our  Admiral  of  the  Ocean 
sea,  we  have  charged  the  comman- 
der, Francis  de  Bobadilla.  bearer  of 
these  presents,  to  make  known  to 
you,  in  our  name,  certain  matters 
with  which  he  is  intrusted.  We 
pray  you  to  yield  to  him  faith  and 
credit,  and  to  act  accordingly." 

Great  was  the  indignation,  untold 
was  the  grief  of  Isabella,  when  she 
learned  from  a  letter  written  by 
Columbus  himself  to  the  intimate 
friend  of  the  queen,  Dona  de  la 
Torre,  that  the  royal  missive  had 
resulted  in  his  being  utterly  de- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  81 

prived  of  his  command  and  sent 
home  as  a  prisoner,  actually  in 
chains,  and  as  it  would  seem,  at  her 
royal  command!  This  letter  was 
read  to  her  at  Granada. 

A  courier  was  dispatched  in  hot 
haste  to  Cadiz,  peremptorily  order- 
ing the  magistrate  to  strike  off  his 
chains.  Moreover,  a  letter  was  sent 
to  Columbus,  signed  by  herself  and 
Ferdinand,  deploring  this  shameful 
misconstruction  of  the  royal  orders 
and  inviting  him  to  court  at  once. 
His  enemies,  in  their  blind  malice, 
had  outraged  the  hearts  of  all 
honest  men ;  but  the  third  voyage  of 
Columbus  from  the  New  World,  re- 
mains one  of  the  lessons  of  history. 


82  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Ferdinand  himself  was  alarmed. 
The  name  of  Columbus  was  known 
and  honored  in  every  land,  and 
he  knew  that,  as  sovereigns,  the 
king  and  queen  of  Spain  would  be 
called  to  answer  before  the  Europe 
of  that  day  and  at  the  bar  of  histo- 
ry, for  what,  without  an  instant  and 
most  public  disavowal  of  their  com- 
plicity, would  certainly  be  taken  as 
an  instance  of  ingratitude  almost 
without  parallel.  Columbus  and 
his  brothers  were  received  at  court 
with  every  mark  of  respect  and  in 
a  solemn  audience  the  sovereigns 
strove  to  make  public  reparation. 

But  it  was  in  the  private  audi- 
ence given  to  him   by  Isabella  a 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  83 

few  days  later  that  the  wound  in 
the  great  soul  of  Columbus  was 
consoled  if  not  healed.  At  her 
summons  he  came  richly  dressed 
and  with  all  the  marks  of  rank  and 
distinction.  But  Isabella  could  not 
forget  the  chains  which  had  mana- 
cled and  fettered  the  majestic  pres- 
ence before  her,  and  burst  into  a 
flood  of  womanly  tears  so  over- 
powering that  she  could  only  ex- 
tend her  hand  to  him.  Columbus, 
who  had  borne  with  so  sublime  a 
patience  the  insults  and  injuries 
heaped  upon  him  by  his  enemies, 
the  apparent  withdrawal  even  of 
the  approbation  of  his  sovereign 
lady,  his  most  faithful  friend,  no 


84  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

sooner  beheld  her  emotion  than  he 
lost  all  control  of  his  own.  He 
threw  himself  at  her  feet  unable 
to  utter  a  word  for  his  tears  and 
sobbings;  but  the  tears  of  an  Isa- 
bella of  Castile  were  like  balm  to 
the  sorrows  of  a  soul  as  magnani- 
mous as  that  of  Christopher  Colum- 
bus. 

It  was  under  her  individual  pat- 
ronage that  he  sailed  on  his  fourth 
voyage  of  discovery  in  1502.  Isa- 
bella did  not  see  him  on  his  return 
from  this  disastrous  voyage  more 
than  ever  under  the  malignant 
interference  of  his  enemies.  When 
Columbus  reached  Spain  on  the  7th 
of  November,  1504,  Isabella  of  Cas- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  85 

tile  was  dying.  It  was  not  the 
hardships  of  war,  not  the  care  of 
a  vast  realm  that  had  undermined 
the  citadel  of  her  strength. 

Under  the  panoply  of  an  energy 
so  persistent,  so  fearless  as  to  en- 
title her  to  the  name  of  a  valiant 
woman,  and  under  that  sense  of 
justice  so  keen  as  to  allow  no  kin- 
ship, no  apparent  danger  to  her 
personal  happiness  to  warp  her  de- 
cisions, there  beat  a  heart  as  tender 
as  that  of  the  merest  peasant  wo- 
man in  all  her  dominions,  living 
only  for  the  little  ones  around  her 
humble  board.  The  queen,  who, 
with  the  bearing  of  a  Semiramis, 
mounted  on  her  war-horse,  her  slen- 


86  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

der  limbs  cased  in  knightly  mail, 
rode  through  the  drooping  ranks  of 
dispirited  soldiers  during  a  cruel 
siege,  breathing  new  courage  into 
their  hearts  by  her  own  intrepid 
bearing,  would  return  to  her  tent 
to  caress  the  youngest  of  her  little 
ones  with  the  cooing  tenderness 
of  the  dove  brooding  her  nestlings. 
For  in  this  woman  was  the  forti- 
tude spun  of  finest  steel  and  purest 
gold,  their  delicate  threads  wrought 
into  a  fibre  never  to  be  broken; 
yet  the  very  fineness  of  their  text- 
ure exacting  a  sensibility  to  im- 
pressions in  proportion  to  their 
strength. 
The  career  of  Isabella,  emerging 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  87 

from  the  seclusion  of  Arevalo  to 
the  publicity  of  a  court,  through 
years  of  steadfast  adhesion  to  the 
noblest  ideals  until  she  sat  right- 
fully on  the  throne  of  Castile  in  the 
fullness  ,of  her  prerogatives;  the 
war  of  ten  years  for  the  deliverance 
of  her  country  from  the  yoke  of 
Islamism,  which,  with  all  its  ex- 
quisite garniture  of  learning  and 
the  arts,  was  Islamism  still,  with  its 
degrading  conditions  and  certainty 
of  degrading  issues;  the  patronage 
which  had  given  a  new  world  to 
the  old  as  well  as  to  Castile;  all  had 
been  a  series  of  successes,  of  brill- 
iant achievements,  which  will  glow, 
to  the  end  of  time,  not  only  on  the 


88  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

page  of  history,  in  the  mem  or}7  of 
the  scholar,  in  the  wisdom  of  the 
statesman  and  the  valor  of  the  mili- 
tary leader,  but  in  the  imagination 
of  the  young,  with  an  enthusiasm 
similar  to  that  felt  for  her  by 
her  own  leal  subjects,  the  beloved 
children  of  her  realm. 

Isabella  had  indeed  learned  of 
her  royal  mother  in  her  girlhood  at 
Arevalo,  of  the  fallacy  of  earthly 
hopes;  but  when  had  an  expecta- 
tion of  Isabella's  been  disappointed? 
When  kneeling  before  her  confess- 
or, a.s  a  queen,  she  had  been  told  to 
hold  herself  prepared  for  the  sor- 
rows which  inevitably  overtake 
even  the  just  man;  if  not  as  punish- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  89 

ments,  as  trials  of  the  soul's  fealty 
as  with  holy  Job,  and  to  humble 
herself  continually  under  the  hand 
of  God.  But  all  this  had  been  pro- 
spective. Perhaps,  in  all  time, 
there  has  not  been  so  happy  a 
queen,  so  happy  a  woman  while 
a  queen,  as  Isabella.  There  had 
been  no  softness  in  her  life,  no  ease, 
no  leisure;  but  the  happiness  had 
been  that  of  a  life  prolific  in  great 
and  good  deeds.  What  was  there 
needed  to  ripen  this  precious  fruit 
before  dropping  into  the  treasury 
of  heaven? 

In  1496,  her  mother,  Isabella  of 
Portugal,  queen-dowager  of  Castile, 
died  in  the  arms  of  her  devoted 


90  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

daughter.  History  does  not  give 
us,  in  so  many  words,  the  counsels  of 
this  wise  mother,  who  removed  her 
at  so  early  an  age  from  the  mischiefs 
of  a  court,  but  we  can  see  what 
those  counsels  must  have  been  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  Isabella's  ca- 
reer; and  her  devotion  to  this  moth- 
er was  so  tender  that  the  first  sorrow 
of  Isabella  coining  with  her  death, 
she  seems  never  to  have  recovered 
from  the  shock.  Then  followed  the 
death  of  her  son,  prince  Juan,  five 
months  after  his  marriage  with  the 
beautiful  and  accomplished  Marga- 
ret of  Austria;  and  to  this  succeeded 
what  was  the  death-knell  to  Isa- 
bella's happiness,  the  death  of  her 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  91 

own  Isabella,  queen  of  Portugal, 
and  also  of  her  infant  son,  in  whom 
centered  the  succession  to  Castile, 
Aragon,  Granada,  Portugal,  Na- 
varre, Naples,  Sicily  and  the  open- 
ing glories  of  the  eastern  and  west- 
ern world,  as  if  the  infant  had 
pined  under  the  weight  of  too  great 
destinies. 

But  this  did  not  fill  the  appointed 
measure  of  Isabella's  sorrow.  To 
her  daughter  Joanna,  wife  of  Philip 
of  Flanders,  had  been  born  a  son, 
who,  had  Isabella  foreseen  his  mag- 
nificent career,  might  have  con- 
soled somewhat  her  fears  for  her 
beloved  Castile  and  for  the  royal 
house.  But  the  infancy  of  Charles 


92  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

the  Fifth,  gave  no  sign  of  his  mighty 
powers,  while  the  domestic  dis- 
cords between  Philip  and  Joanna 
added  the  sting  of  grievous  mortifi- 
cation to  the  hearts  of  both  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella. 

It  was  these  accumulated  sorrows 
which  undermined  the  citadel  of 
Isabella's  life,  which  confirmed  the 
truth  of  lessons  she  had  received  as 
a  child  and  into  early  womanhood. 
Three  weeks  after  the  arrival  of 
Columbus  from  his  fourth  voyage, 
the  heart  of  the  most  gracious  and 
beloved  of  sovereigns  was  cold  in 
death,  and  no  more  affectionate 
homage  could  be  penned  than  that 
of  Columbus  in  the  moment  when 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  93 

he  knew  that  his  earthly  hopes 
were  buried  in  her  grave. 

"A  memorial  for  thee,  my  dear 
son,  Diego,  of  what  is  at  present 
to  be  done.  The  principal  thing  is 
to  commend  affectionately  and  with 
great  devotion,  the  soul  of  the 
Queen  our  sovereign  to  God.  Her 
life  was  always  Catholic  and  prompt 
to  all  things  in  his  holy  service; 
for  this  reason  we  may  rest  assured 
that  she  is  received  into  his  glory 
and  beyond  the  cares  of  this  rough 
and  weary  world." 

On  the  12th  of  October,  she  exe- 
cuted that  celebrated  testament, 
which  has  been  said  to  reflect  so 
clearly  the  peculiar  qualities  of  her 


V4  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

mind  and  heart.  Her  remains  were 
to  be  deposited  in  the  Franciscan 
convent  of  Santa  Isabella  in  the 
Alhambra;  unless  the  king  might 
wish  to  be  laid  elsewhere,  when  she 
was  to  be  removed  to  his  side,  that 
the  union  they  had  enjoyed  in  this 
world,  and  which,  by  the  mercy 
of  God,  they  hoped  for  their  souls 
in  heaven,  might  be  represented  by 
their  bodies  in  the  earth.  Her 
jewels,  or  such  as  he  might  select, 
were  given  with  the  most  touching 
expressions  of  tenderness  to  the 
king,  her  lord,  to  remind  him  of  the 
singular  love  she  had  always  borne 
to  him,  and  that  she  was  waiting 
for  him  in  a  better  world,  there- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  95 

by  to  encourage  him  to  live  more 
holily  in  this. 

She  enjoined  upon  her  successors, 
in  the  most  earnest  manner,  to 
quicken  the  good  work  of  Christian- 
izing and  civilizing  her  subjects 
in  the  New  World;  to  treat  them 
•with  the  greatest  gentleness  and  re- 
dress any  wrongs  they  had  suffered 
in  person  or  property;  to  look  well 
that  no  revenues  came  to  the  crown 
unjustly  or  without  the  consent 
of  the  people — ''all  measures  de- 
pending for  their  validity  on  the 
pleasure  of  the  subjects  of  the 
realm."  To  Joanna  and  Philip  she 
recommended  the  same  conjugal 
hnrmonv  which  had  ever  existed 


96  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE, 

between  her  and  her  husband,  and 
besought  them  to  show  to  him 
all  the  deference  and  filial  affection 
"due  to  him  beyond  any  other  par- 
ent for  his  eminent  virtues."  No 
friend  was  forgotten,  no  attendant. 
At  length,  having  received  all  the 
sacraments  and  performed  all  the 
offices  of  a  sincere  and  devout  Chris- 
tian, with  that  sensitive  delicacy 
and  decorum  which  had  distin- 
guished her  through  life,  she  gently 
expired,  a  little  before  noon  on 
Wednesday,  November  26,  1504,  in 
the  fifty-fourth  year  of  her  age  and 
thirtieth  of  her  reign. 

But  what  has  Isabella  of  Castile, 
beautiful  and  noble  and  even  chiv- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  97 

alrous,  if  you  will,  done  for  Ameri- 
ca, that  we  should  claim  for  her 
the  veneration  of  an  entire  conti- 
nent, from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific, from  Behring  Strait  to  Terra 
del  Fuego?  The  furnishing  of  three 
miserable  little  ships,  hardly  sea- 
worthy, and  one  eighth  of  their  ex- 
pense borne  by  the  discoverer  him- 
self, constituting  the  wonderful 
share  which  she  had  in  the  dis- 
covery of  the  New  World. 

These  three  small  ships,  be  it  re- 
membered, were  all  that  Columbus 
asked  for.  But  the  expense  of 
these,  small  as  it  was,  must  be  met, 
not  by  the  people  of  her  realm, 
but  from  the  royal  treasury,  de- 


98  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

pleted  by  the  exhausting  war  of  ten 
years,  just  ended. '  To  meet  the  de- 
ficiency, the  queen,  who  had  begged 
one  of  the  most  opulent  of  her 
nobles  to  leave  the  honor  of  the  ex- 
pedition to  the  crown,  would  be 
compelled  to  raise  money  in  her 
own  name;  not  as  in  the  case  of 
the  war  when  all  Spain  was  ready 
to  lay  its  treasures  at  her  feet,  but 
for  an  enterprise  which  had  been 
declared  a  mere  venture  by  a  coun- 
cil of  the  learned  men  of  the  na- 
tion. The  exceptions,  like  cardinal 
Mendoza  and  archbishop  Deza, 
might  be  supposed  chimerical  even 
quixotic  in  their  views,  and  it  is 
quite  certain  that  Ferdinand  was 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  99 

freezingly  indifferent.  He  would 
not  oppose  the  wife,  whose  voice 
had  more  than  once  decided  him 
amid  divided  counselors;  but  she 
should  have  no  encouragement 
from  hiin  in  what  seemed  a  vagary 
of  a  navigator's  imagination. 

Even  religious  enthusiasm,  in  the 
prospect  of  bringing  whole  nations 
into  the  light  of  Christianity,  was 
damped  by  the  confessor  whose 
counsels  had  upheld  her  during  the 
war  on  Granada,  by  motives  the 
most  powerful  to  a  nature  like 
hers;  when,  suddenly,  the  instinc- 
tive conviction  which  had  been  in 
her  mind  from  her  first  interview 
with  Columbus,  re-asserted  itself. 


100  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

There  was  no  balancing  of  coun- 
sels, there  was  no  call  to  be  made 
upon  her  own  Castile,  none  upon 
Ferdinand,  her  husband.  The  jew- 
els which  she  could  command  as 
personal,  and  which  many  a  woman 
has  shrunk  from  sacrificing  to  save 
even  a  husband's  honor,  should 
meet  the  demand  that  the  enter- 
prise would  make  upon  her.  Not 
only,  too,  will  she  pawn  her  jewels, 
but  she  will  meet  the  chilling  in- 
credulity of  her  sovereign  consort, 
of  the  whole  nation,  of  Europe  it- 
self. 

It  was  not  the  money  which  Isa- 
bella put  into  this  scheme,  even  at 
a  mortifying  sacrifice,  which  se- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  101 

cured  its  success;  but  her  confi- 
dence in  Columbus  personally,  and 
what  we  must  call  a  wonderful 
enlightenment  of  mind  and  soul,  by 
which  she  took  in  at  a  glance  all 
the  favoring  possibilities  until  they 
became  probabilities,  and  these 
once  grasped,  all  the  chivalry  of  an 
exalted  nature  was  pledged  to  their 
fulfillment.  There  was  no  with- 
drawing of  confidence  when  once 
given.  The  sounding  line  of  her 
womanly  instinct,  guided  by  the 
experiences  of  an  extraordinary 
reign,  had  fathomed  the  sublime  re- 
sources of  Columbus  and  his  mo- 
tives, and  no  dastardly  maligner 
could  uncrown  him  for  Isabella. 


102          ISABELLA  OF  CASTILfi. 

The  provisions  for  the  first  voy- 
age may  seem  meagre,  but  the 
three  succeeding  ones  were  fur- 
nished with  a  royal  generosity  leav- 
ing nothing  to  ask.  Her  patronage 
had,  in  fact,  that  undefinable  quali- 
ty which  defies  analysis;  like  some 
deed  of  heroism,  unpremeditated, 
but  suddenly  disclosing  a  noble 
soul  transfigured. 

It  was  not  during  the  war  on 
Granada,  noble  as  that  war  was  in 
its  motive  and  conduct,  but  when  a 
woman  and  the  sovereign  of  a 
mighty  nation,  rose  above  the  learn- 
ing of  the  worldly  wise,  above  the 
caution  of  the  wordly  prudent,  that 
the  mysterious  root,  running,  as  we 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  103 

have  said,  like  a  fibre  of  indestructi- 
ble life  among  the  nations,  sudden- 
ly unfolded  that  flower  of  chivalry 
in  old  Spain,  honored  to-day,  in 
America,  as  a  glory  to  our  Christian 
womanhood  and  the  co-discoverer 
of  the  New  World, 

ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 


ADDENDA. 

'That  doughty  warrior  and  noble 
knight,  Rpdrigo  diaz  de  Bivar,  was  the 
son  of  Diego  Laynez,  one  of  the  two 
judges  chosen  for  Castile  by  the  people, 
when  left  without  a  chief,  by  his  wife 
Dona  Teresa  Rodriguez,  daughter  of 
Don  Rodrigo  Alvarez,  count  and  gov- 
ernor of  Asturias. 

He  was  born  in  1066  in  the  city  of 
Burgos,  in  the  street  of  Saint  Martin, 
hard  by  the  palace  of  the  counts  of 
Castile,  and  in  Saint  Martin's  church  he 
was  baptized.  To  this  church  he  was 
most  affectionate,  and  built  the  belfry 
tower  thereof. 

His  first  act  of  prowess,  was  to  avenge 

(105) 


106  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

the  insult  given  to  his  father  Diego, 
now  old  and  unable  to  defend  himself, 
by  the  count  Don  Gomez.  This  count 
was  a  mighty  man  in  war,  who  gave 
his  voice  first  in  the  Cortez,  and  so 
powerful  that  he  had  a  thousand  friends 
among  the  mountains.  Our  Rodrigo 
was  but  a  youth,  but  he  thought  not  of 
the  mightiness  of  the  count,  only  of  the 
insult  done  to  his  father,  the  insult  and 
the  blow;  and  his  father,  seeing  him 
of  such  good  heart,  gave  him  his  sword 
and  his  blessing.  The  sword  had  be- 
longed of  old  to  Mudarra,  and  when 
our  Rodrigo  held  its  cross  in  his  hand, 
his  arm  felt  as  strong  as  Mudarra's  had 
ever  been.  So  he  went  forth,  defied 
count  Don  Gomez  and  slew  him  in  fair 
combat.  Returning  to  his  father,  he 
said :  "The  tongue  which  insulted  you 
is  no  longer  a  tongue,  and  the  hand 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  107 

which    wronged   you   is   no    longer    a 
hand." 

When  the  Moors  entered  Castile  in 
great  power,  with  them  came  five 
kings.  They  passed  beyond  Burgos, 
and  crossed  the  mountains,  plundering 
castles,  hamlets,  carrying  off,  as  cap- 
tives, men  and  women  and  flocks  of 
all  sorts.  But  as  this  victorious  horde 
were  returning  with  all  speed,  Rodrigo 
of  Bivar  raised  the  country,  fell  upon 
them  in  the  mountains,  won  back  all 
their  booty  and  took  the  five  kings 
prisoners.  All  this  he  brought  duly  to 
the  feet  of  his  mother;  but  he  would 
not  keep  the  kings  prisoners,  choosing, 
rather,  to  send  them  to  their  own  coun- 
tries, blessing  him  for  their  deliverance, 
gladly  sending  him  tribute  and  declar- 
ing themselves  his  willing  vassals.  For 
this  reason,  that  five  kings  in  one 


108  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

battle  acknowledged  him  as  conqueror, 
he  was  called  their  Seid — or  Cid — which 
means  lord ;  and  as  he  was  campeador 
or  champion  of  his  countrymen  against 
the  Moors,  he  was  st}ded  the  Lord 
Champion — El  Cid  Campeador. 

He  died  before  the  year  eleven  hun- 
dred, and  the  story  of  his  brave  acts  in 
the  "Poem  of  the  Cid,"  was  written 
before  the  year  twelve  hundred.  The 
Cid  is  the  foremost  hero  of  the  Spanish 
ballads.  In  the  "Chronicle  of  the 
Cid,"  by  the  English  poet,  Robert 
Southey,  we  have  the  story,  the  poem, 
and  everything  given  in  the  Spanish 
annals  to  illustrate  the  romantic  narra- 
tive. 

1.     P.  13,  1.  8. 

"The  first  instance  on  record  of  the 
meeting  of  the  Cortez,  was  that  at  Bur- 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.         109 

gos  in  Castile,  the  city  of  the  Cid,  in 
the  year  1169.  But  in  those  days, 
there  was  more  promptness  in  the  per- 
formance of  great  deeds,  than  in  the  re- 
cording of  them.  We  know  that  the 
Cortez  held  sway  in  Castile  more  than 
a  hundred  years  before  this  date. 

The  members  of  the  Cortez  were  sent, 
first  by  the  householders  or  great  land- 
holders, afterward  by  the  cities.  But 
it  was  always,  more  or  less,  a  represen- 
tation of  the  people.  These  delegates 
assembled  in  the  same  chamber  as  the 
nobility  and  higher  order  of  clergy; 
but  when  questions  of  moment  came  be- 
fore them,  retired  to  deliberate  among 
themselves,  inasmuch  as  they  were  the 
most  powerful.  For,  while  the  nobili- 
ty and  clergy  could  attend  in  Cortez, 
their  sanction  was  not  necessary  to  the 
validity  of  legislative  acts,  this  validi- 


no        ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

ty,  in  reality,  being  vested  solely  in 
the  representatives  of  the  people;  a 
fact  which  explains  many,  otherwise, 
astonishing  proceedings  in  the  history 
of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 
2.  P.  14,  1.  6. 

"The  indisposition,  if  not  utter  inca- 
pacity for  business  of  John  the  Second 
of  Castile,  inclined  him  to  leave  the 
government  of  his  kingdom  in  the 
hands  of  his  favorites.  Conspicuous 
among  them,  was  Alvaro  de  Luna. 
Descended,  although  irregularly,  from 
a  noble  house  of  Aragon,  he  was  early 
introduced  as  a  page  into  the  royal 
household  of  which  Maria  of  Aragon 
was  queen.  Here  he  soon  distinguished 
himself  by  his  amiable  manners  and 
personal  accomplishments.  He  could 
ride,  fence,  dance,  sing,  better  than  any 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.          Ill 

other  cavalier  of  the  court,  while  his 
proficiency  in  music  and  poetry  com- 
pletely won  the  heart  of  John,  who  was 
devoted  to  both.  Moreover,  he  was  in- 
defatigable in  his  application  to  busi- 
ness, to  which  John  had  a  positive  aver- 
sion; so  that  he  was  allowed  to  take 
the  reins  of  government  with  its  drudg- 
ery. So  acceptably  did  he  serve  his 
royal  master,  that  he  was  made  grand- 
master of  St.  James  and  constable  of 
Castile,  in  which  offices  he  became  the 
channel  of  all  promotions.  His  cupidi- 
ty, however,  was  as  insatiable  as  his 
ambition,  and  he  abused  the  unwise 
confidence  reposed  in  him,  by  keeping 
all  the  important  posts  for  himself  and 
his  kindred. 

At  his  death,  he  is  said  to  have  left  a 
larger  amount  of  treasure  than  was 
possessed  by  the  whole  nobility  of  the 


112         ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

kingdom.  With  all  this,  he  presumed 
upon  a  royal  splendor  in  his  retinue, 
to  which,  instead  of  the  king's,  the  sons 
of  the  grandees  aspired,  so  that  his 
sovereign's  court  was  comparatively  de- 
serted. All  this  roused  the  fiercest 
opposition,  and  for  thirty  years  the 
blind  partiality  of  John  for  his  favorite, 
was  the  key  to  the  dissensions  of  the 
kingdom ;  the  address  of  Alvero,  how- 
ever, giving  him,  in  the  end,  the  as- 
cendency over  all  his  enemies,  even 
when  obliged  to  retire  for  a  while  from 
the  court.  So  unaccountable  was  his 
influence  over  the  king  that  he  was  ac- 
cused of  witchcraft,  but  it  was  only  the 
power  of  a  strong  and  active  mind  over 
an  indolent  one. 

On  the  death  of  Maria  of  Aragon, 
Alvero  had  the  audacity  to  arrange  a 
marriage  for  the  king  which  was  really 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  113 

contrary  to  the  wishes  of  his  majesty, 
but  from  which  he  saw  no  way  of  es- 
cape. This  was  with  the  princess  Isa- 
bella, grand-daughter  of  John  the  First 
of  Portugal.  .But  although  she  owed 
her  elevation  to  Alvero,  she  was  not 
one  to  come  under  his  control.  Dis- 
gusted with  the  supremacy  he  had  ac- 
quired over  the  king,  she  set  her  own 
influence  against  his  and  prevailed. 
His  overthrow  was  complete,  and  to 
her  strong  mind  and  unswerving  will, 
Castile  owed  its  deliverance  from  a 
bondage  as  odious  as  it  was  disgrace- 
ful ;  preserving,  as  far  as  it  could  then 
be  preserved,  the  dignity  of  the  crown 
as  well  as  the  rights  of  the  people. 
3.  P.  16,  1.  11. 

4Henry   the  Fourth    seems  to   have 
inherited     from    his    father   a  certain 


114  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

weakness  of  nature  which  often  passes 
for  amiability.  While  committing  the 
most  fragrant  injustices,  violating  ev- 
ery code  of  honor,  he  shrank  from  the 
infliction  of  bodily  pain  or  the  shedding 
of  blood.  When  urged  by  his  old  pre- 
ceptor to  proceed  boldly  against  the 
revolutionary  measures  set  on  foot,  he 
utterly  refused  to  inaugurate  violent  or 
even  vigorous  resistance.  The  precep- 
tor replied  with  warmth:  "Since  you 
are  not  true  to  your  own  honor  at  a 
time  like  this,  I  shall  live  to  see  you 
the  most  degraded  monarch  in  Spain ; 
when  you  will  repent,  but  too  late,  this 
unseasonable  pusillanimity."  The  pre- 
diction was  fulfilled,  for  the  confeder- 
ates, disgusted  with  his  breach  of  faith 
whenever  he  promised  any  concession, 
decided  on  the  execution  of  a  bold 
measure,  for  the  justification  of  which 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  115 

we  must  turn  to  the  oath  of  allegiance 
given  by  the  Cortez  to  their  sovereigns. 

"In  an  open  plain,  not  far  from  the 
city  of  Avila,  they  caused  a  scaffold 
to  be  erected,  of  sufficient  elevation 
to  be  easily  seen  from  the  surrounding 
country.  A  chair  of  state  was  placed 
on  it,  and  in  this  was  seated  an  effigy 
of  King  Henry,  clad  in  sable  robes  and 
adorned  with  all  the  insignia  of  royalty ; 
a  sword  at  its  side,  a  sceptre  in  its 
hand  and  a  crown  upon  its  head. 

"A  manifesto  was  then  read,  ex- 
hibiting in  glowing  colors  the  tyranni- 
cal conduct  of  the  king  and  the  con- 
sequent determination  to  depose  him ; 
and  vindicating  the  proceeding  by  sev- 
eral precedents  drawn  from  the  history 
of  the  monarchy.  The  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  then  ascending  the  platform, 
tore  the  diadem  from  the  head  of  the 


116  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

statue ;  the  marquis  of  Villena  removed 
the  sceptre,  the  count  of  Placeucia  the 
sword,  the  grand  master  of  Alcantara 
and  the  counts  of  Benavente  and  Pare- 
des  the  rest  of  the  royal  insignia;  when 
the  image,  thus  despoiled  of  its  honors, 
Avas  rolled  in  the  dust,  amid  the 
mingled  groans  and  clamors  of  the  spec- 
tators." Prescott. 
4.  P.  19,  1.  8. 

''Immediately  upon  the  deposition 
of  Henry  the  Fourth,  his  half-brother, 
the  young  Alphonso,  then  only  eleven 
years  of  age,  but  to  whom  Henry  had 
solemnly  promised  to  resign  his  royal 
birth-right,  was  proclaimed  king.  This 
young  prince  who,  under  better  aus- 
pices and  at  a  more  mature  age,  might 
have  ruled  over  his  country  with  a  wis- 
dom equal  to  any  of  its  monarchs,  died 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  117 

after  a  reign  of  three  years.  But  even 
in  this  brief  time  and  under  such  dis- 
advantages, he  gave  promise  of  su- 
perior excellence. 

Isabella  of  Portugal  was  his  mother, 
and  from  her  he  had  taken  a  delicate 
conscience  and  vigorous  mind.  Once 
when  solicited  by  the  citizens  of  Toledo 
to  sanction  some  act  of  extortion  which 
they  had  committed,  he  replied :  "God 
forbid  that  I  should  countenance  such 
injustice."  And  on  bc>ing  told  that  the 
city,  unless  sustained  in  its  action, 
would,  in  all  probability,  transfer  its 
allegiance  to  Henry,  he  added :  "Much 
as  I  love  power,  I  am  not  willing  to 
purchase  it  at  such  a  price."  His  sel- 
fish nobles  and  turbulent  people  saw, 
with  alarm,  that  nothing  of  the  yield- 
ing to  dictation  of  John  the  Second, 
would  be  found  in  this  young  lion,  who, 


118  TSA  BELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

with  all  his  inexperience,  could  not 
be  entangled  in  the  meshes  they  might 
spread  for  him. 

5.  P.  19,  1.  9. 

"The  principality  of  Asturias  was  the 
usual  demesne  of  the  heir  apparent  to 
the  crown;  that  Asturias,  which  still 
comes  in  to  the  story  of  the  Cid  and  his 
noble  ancestry. 

6.  P.  20,  1.  T. 

'Isabella  of  Portugal  may  have  re- 
minded her  daughter,  that  as  the  young 
Infanta,  when  only  six  yetirs  of  age, 
her  hand  had  been  sought  by  John  the 
Second  of  Aragon,  for  this  same  son. 
We  may  feel  certain  that  the  queen- 
dowager's  influence  was  altogether  on 
the  side  of  Ferdinand,  whose  superiori- 
•  ty  to  his  rivals,  in  merit  as  well  as  per- 


ISABELLA  OP  CASTILE.  119 

sonal  attractions,  might  well  re-enforce 
her  natural  partiality  for  the  alliance. 
7.     P.  20,  1.  15. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  King 
of  Aragon,  John  the  Second,  from  the 
first  proposal  made  by  him  for  the  hand 
of  the  infant  Isabella  in  behalf  of  his 
son,  had  understood  the  peculiar  ad- 
vantage of  the  union  of  the  two  mon- 
archies. He  was  accounted  one  of  the 
shrewdest  princes  of  his  time;  and  what 
had  seemed  to  him  desirable  when  there 
was  a  possibility,  only,  of  Isabella's 
succession  to  the  throne,  was  tenfold 
more  so,  when  the  succession  was  se- 
cured to  her  by  every  constitutional 
safeguard.  With  the  consent  of  his 
States,  he  lost  no  time  in  giving  to 
Ferdinand  the  title  of  King  of  Sicily, 
and  furthermore,  sent  a  confidential 


1£0  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

agent  to  Castile,  with  instructions  to 
gain  over  to  his  interest  all  who  had 
any  influence  with  the  princess  Isa- 
bella. 

Her  favorable  reply  to  the  Aragonese 
embassy,  was  received  by  the  old  king 
with  the  keenest  satisfaction,  and  110 
delay  was  allowed  in  the  signing  of  the 
marriage  articles.  In  these,  Ferdinand 
promised  faithfully  to  respect  the  laws 
and  usages  of  Castile;  to  fix  his  resi- 
dence in  Castile  and  not  to  quit  it  with- 
out the  consent  of  Isabella;  to  alienate 
no  property  belonging  to  the  crown; 
to  prefer  no  foreigners  to  municipal 
offices,  and  to  make  no  appointments, 
civil  or  military,  without  her  approba- 
tion and  to  leave  ecclesiastical  nomina- 
tions altogether  to  her.  There  was 
a  promise  concerning  the  Moors,  and 
the  respect  to  be  paid  invariably  to 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.         121 

King  Henry.  The  treaty,  which  al- 
lowed no  past  claims  by  Aragon  upon 
Castile,  settled  a  dowry  upon  Isabella 
more  generous  than  that  usually  as-? 
signed  to  the  queens  of  Aragon.  This 
contract  gave  the  liveliest  satisfaction 
to  the  Caslilian  nobility,  as  it  imposed 
important  restrictions  on  Ferdinand 
and  the  relinquishment  of  all  the  es 
sential  rights  of  sovereignty  to  Isabella. 
8.  P.  20,  1.  18. 

"The  story  of  the  dangers  as  well  as 
difficulties  which  beset  Isabella  at  this 
juncture,  is  too  novel  in  the  course 
of  royal  weddings  to  be  omitted.  The 
negotiations  for  the  marriage  had  been 
conducted  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  as 
it  was  understood  that  Henry  had  quite 
different  plans  for  his  sister.  With  the 
intention  to  be  under  the  protection 


123         ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

of  her  mother,   Isabella  had   gone  to 

7  O 

Madrigal.  But  the  quick  ears  of  those 
on  the  side  of  Henry  had  caught  echoes 
of  the  royal  negotiations.  Instructions 
were  given  to  secure  the  person  of  Isa- 
bella, and  letters  sent  to  the  citizens  of 
Madrigal  threatening  them  with  the 
royal  displeasure  should  they  interfere 
with  this  command.  The  intimidation 
of  citizens  and  even  personal  friends 
was  complete,  but  the  royal  ladies  were 
not  daunted.  A  message  sent  to  Ad- 
miral Hcnriqucz  and  the  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  brought  a  body  of  horse  and 
troops  to  her  rescue,  which  bore  her 
off  in  triumph  to  the  friendly  city  of 
Valladolid,  where  she  was  received  by 
a  burst  of  genuine  enthusiasm. 

But  it  was  necessary  to  quicken  the 
steps  of  Ferdinand  under  such  circum- 
stances. The  envoys,  concealing  with 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.         123 

rare  tact  the  object  of  their  mission, 
reached  Saragossa  where  they  found 
Ferdinand.  Tlxey  could  not  have  ar- 
rived at  a  more  unfortunate  time.  The 
old  king  of  Aragon  was  in  the  heat 
of  a  war  against,  hitherto,  victorious 
insurgents,  and  the  royal  treasury  Avas 
til  most  empty.  The  funds  or  the  forces 
necessary  to  cover  his  son's  entrance  in- 
to Castile,  now  a  hostile  country,  were 
utterly  lacking,  and  his  long  cherished 
project  was  seemingly  to  be  defeated, 
when  the  younger  heads  announced 
a  plan  which  suited  the  emergency. 
The  prince  and  his  attendants  were 
to  pass  themselves  off  as  common 
travelers,  the  prince  being  the  servant 
of  the  party,  feeding  the  mules,  serving 
his  companions  at  table,  while  the 
journey  was  continued  by  night  as  far 
as  possible. 


134         ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

They  arrived,  on  the  9th  of  October, 
cold  and  hungry,  the  prince  certainly 
so,  for  he  had  taken  no  repose,  at  the 
outpost  of  Isabella's  dominions  in  the 
kingdom  of  Leon,  where  he  was  met  by 
the  Castilian  nobles  as  became  his  rank. 
On  the  15th  of  October,  he  passed 
privately  from  Duenas,  accompanied 
only  by  four  attendants,  to  Valladolid, 
where  he  was  received  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  and  conducted  to  the 
apartments  of  Isabella.  The  interview 
lasted  more  than  two  hours;  and  all 
the  preliminaries  of  the  marriage  ad- 
justed, Ferdinand  returned  to  his  quar- 
ters at  Duenas  as  quietly  as  he  left 
them. 

9.     P.  22,  1.  15. 

"While  Aragon  had  its  poetic  courts 
that  vied  with  each  other  in  chivalrous 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  126 

verse,  Castile  had  disdained  these  oc- 
cupations as  unworthy  of  the  profession 
of  arms,  which  held  the  first  rank  in 
in  the  eyes  of  its  nobles.  To  John  the 
Second,  with  all  his  faults  as  a  king, 
must  be  given  the  praise  of  rousing'  the 
poesy  latent  in  the  court  of  Castile. 
He  was  fond  of  books,  wrote  and  spoke 
Latin  with  elegance,  composed  verses 
and  even  corrected  those  submitted  to 
him  by  his  courtiers.  Poetry  thus  re- 
ceived the  stamp  of  royalty  as  well  as 
the  smile  of  its  patronage.  Henry, 
marquis  of  Villena,  descended  from  the 
royal  houses  of  Castile  and  Aragon, 
consecrated  his  whole  life  to  letters  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  John.  He  translated 
Dante's  Commedia  into  prose  and  is 
said  to  have  been  the  first  to  give  a 
translation  of  Virgil's  ^Eneid,  into  a 
modern  language. 


m  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Another  celebrated  wit  as  well  as 
scholar  of  this  reign,  was  Inigo  Lopez 
fie  Mendoza,  marquis  of  Santillana. 
While  he  made  his  house  an  academy 
for  the  martial  exercises  of  the  young 
cavaliers,  he  drew  around  him  men 
eminent  for  genius  and  learning,  which 
he  generously  encouraged  by  his  purse 
as  well  as  by  his  example. 

But  the  most  conspicuous  for  his 
poetical  talent,  of  all  the  brilliant  cir- 
cle which  surrounded  John  the  Second, 
was  John  de  Mena,  a  native  of  "fair 
Cordova,  the  flower  of  science  and  of 
chivalry,"  as  he  calls  her  in  his  song. 
He  was  born  of  the  middle  class  with 
only  humble  expectations,  but  was 
"smitten  with  the  love  of  letters."  He 
is  declared  to  have  given  a  new  aspect 
to  Castilian  poetry,  and  King  John 
was  so  fond  of  his  poems,  that  he  "had 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  127 

Mena's  verses  on  his  table  as  constantly 
as  his  prayer-book." 
10.     P.  25,  1.  18. 

""On  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  De- 
cember, 1474,  a  numerous  assembly, 
consisting  'of  the  nobles,  clergy  and 
public  magistrates  in  their  robes  of  of- 
fice, waited  on  Isabella  at  the  alcazar, 
or  castle,  and,  receiving  her  under  a 
canopy  of  rich  brocade,  escorted  her  in 
solemn  procession  to  the  principal 
square  of  the  city,  where  a  broad  plat- 
form had  been  erected  for  the  perform- 
ance of  the  ceremony.  Isabella,  royally 
attired,  rode  on  a  Spanish  jennet  whose 
bridle  was  held  by  two  of  the  civil 
functionaries,  while  an  officer  of  her 
court  preceded  her  on  horseback,  bear- 
ing a  naked  sword,  the  symbol  of  sover- 
eignty. On  arriving  at  the  square,  she 


128  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

alighted  from  her  palfrey,  and,  ascend 
ing  the  platform,  seated  herself  on  a 
throne  which  had  been  prepared  for 
her.  A  herald  with  a  loud  voice  pro- 
claimed: 'Castile,  Castile  for  the  king 
Don  Ferdinand  and  his  consort  Dona 
Isabella,  queen  proprieter  of  these  king- 
doms.' 

"The  royal  standards  were  then  un- 
furled, while  the  peal  of  bells  and  the 
discharge  of  ordnance  from  the  castle, 
publicly  announced  the  accession  of  the 
new  sovereign.  Isabella,  after  receiv- 
ing the  homage  of  her  subjects  and 
swearing  to  maintain  inviolate  the 
liberties  of  the  realm,  descended  from 
the  platform."  "Such,"  says  Prescott, 
"were  the  simple  forms,  that  attended 
the  coronation  of  the  monarchs  of  Cas- 
tile, previous  to  the  sixteenth  century." 

11.     P.  27,  1.  15. 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.         1M 

"Perhaps  this  was  the  most  decisive 
crisis  in  the  career  of  Isabella.  Her 
honor  as  a  ruler,  her  happiness  as  a 
wife  were  to  be  reconciled.  Ferdinand 
was  in  Aragon  at  the  time  of  Henry's 
death  and  the  coronation  of  Isabella. 
"A  disagreeable  discussion"  is  said  to 
have  taken  place  on  his  return,  concern- 
ing the  respective  authority  to  be  en- 
joyed by  the  husband  and  wife  in 
the  administration  of  the  government. 
The  relatives  of  Ferdinand  contended 
for  his  right  to  the  crown  of  Castile 
as  exclusive  sovereign;  but  Isabella's 
friends,  with  all  the  precedents  of  the 
kingdom  in  mind,  stood  up  for  her 
rights  as  sole  sovereign. 

The  result  of  an  arbitration,  however, 
referred  to  the  archbishop  of  Toledo 
and  the  cardinal  of  Spain,  established, 
by  undoubted  precedent,  that  females 


ISO  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

were  not  excluded  from  the  succession 
of  Castile  and  Leon  as  in  Aragon ;  that 
Isabella  was  sole  heir  of  the  kingdom, 
and  that  whatever  authority  Ferdinand 
might  possess,  could  be  derived  only 
through  her.  A  settlement  was  then 
made  on  the  original  marriage  contract, 
which  Ferdinand,  under  the  influence 
of  the  moment,  and  also  under  the  wise 
foresight  of  shrewd  King  John,  had  so 
willingly  signed. 

All  this  seems  to  have  been  forgotten 
by  Ferdinand,  so  loyal  had  Isabella 
been  to  him  as  her  husband.  When 
the  question  came  up  after  the  coro- 
nation, he  was  so  dissatisfied  as  to 
threaten  to  return  to  Aragon.  But  the 
candor  of  Isabella  prevailed,  and  their 
images  stamped  on  the  public  coin,  and 
the  united  arms  of  Castile  and  Aragon 
emblazoned  on  a  common  seal,  were 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.  131 

true   exponents    and    symbols  of   their 
united  sovereignty. 

12.  P.  29,  1.12. 

"Isabella  actually  held  in  her  arms, 
pressed  to  her  heart  so  sensible  to  all 
womanly'  tendernesses,  this  worthy  suc- 
cessor to  her  throne.  As  the  eldest 
child  of  Joanna,  heir  to  the  kingdom  of 
Castile,  Charles  the  Fifth  was  crowned 
immediately  upon  the  death  of  Ferdi- 
nand in  1517. 

13.  P.  92,  1.  1. 

I4These  domestic  discords  must  be  ac- 
knowledged as  the  result  of  Philip's 
levity.  Joanna's  love  for  her  husband 
was  as  sincere  and  devoted  as  that  of 
Isabella  for  Ferdinand.  Unfortunate- 
ly, Joanna  had  not  the  wonderfully 
balanced  mind  of  her  mother;  yet  even 


1S2  ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

Ijer  physical  infirmity,  called  by  some 
imbecility,  by  others  insanity,  did  njot 
take  from  her  the  strong  sense,  gener- 
ous pride  and  high  feeling,  inherited 
from  Isabella;  which  should  have  made 
the  derangement  of  her  faculties  appeal 
still  more  affectingly  to  a  generous 
mind.  That  she  gave  Charles  the  Fifth 
to  the  German  empire,  to  Castile  and 
to  the  world,  must  forever  shield  her 
from  contempt. 
14.  P.  92,  1.  3. 

15"The  day  following  the  Queen's 
death,  her  body,  unembalmed,  in  strict 
conformity  to  her  orders,  began  its  last 
journey  to  Granada,  escorted  by  a  nu- 
merous cortege  of  cavaliers  and  ecclesi- 
astics. A  violent  tempest  set  in  which 
continued  with  little  interruption  dur- 
ing the  whole  mournful  journey,  and 


ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE.          133 

dangerous  floods  interrupted  their  prog- 
ress, while  neither  sun  nor  stars  lyere 
see,n  for  all  those  days  and  nights."  At 
length,  on  the  18th  of  December,  the 
way-worn  cavalcade  reached  its  destina- 
tion, and  amid  the  wild  strife  of  the 
elements,'  the  peaceful  lemains  of  Isa- 
bella were  laid,  with  simple  solemnities, 
in  the  Franciscan  monastery  of  the  Al- 
hambra.  Here,  under  the  shadow  of 
these  venerable  Moslem  towers,  and  in 
the  heart  of  the  capital,  which  her  no- 
ble constancy  had  recovered  for  her 
country,  they  continued  to  repose  till 
after  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  when  they 
were  removed  to  be  laid  by  his  side, 
in  the  stately  mausoleum  of  the  Cathe- 
dral church  of  Granada." 

Prescott. 

The  traveler  still   lingers,   however, 
in  the  shadow  of  the  Franciscan  con- 


134         ISABELLA  OF  CASTILE. 

vent,  where  Isabella  was  laid   at  her 
own  request. 

15.     P.  96,  1.  16. 

The  photo-gravure  in  this  volume, 
representing  the  reception  of  Columbus 
"by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  is  from  the 
1ms  relievi  on  the  monument  erected  to 
Columbus  at  Genoa.  Among  the  offer- 
ings brought  by  Columbus  to  the  Queen 
on  his  return  from  his  first  voyage,  was 
the  first  gold  sent  by  the  New  World 
to  the  Old.  The  American  who  stands 
under  the  gilded  ceiling  of  Santa  Maria 
Maggiore,  Rome,  beholds  this  virgin 
gold,  which  was  presented  by  Isabella 
to  the  reigning  pontiff,  and  devoted  by 
him  to  give  a  golden  canopy  to  one 
of  the  loveliest  of  Christian  temples. 
It  was  as  if  he  had  been  inspired  by 
a  Columbus  and  an  Isabella. 


Ji. 


1*778 


